Unlucky
by Splinter-the-dragonqueen
Summary: Zim is called to the massive by the tallest. Little does he know how much trouble he is truly in for... Can his luck get any worse? Rated T for small violence and language
1. Prologue

Unlucky

Author's note: Hi! I am starting another story! This prologue is going to be short but I promise, everything else will be a lot longer :). I guess you could call this a rewrite from my other fanfiction, Explosion. They both have some of the same theme (kinda)…but this one will have a better story plot and ending and…the list could go on. Unfortunately there will be less ZADF…maybe even none…sorry! To be honest, I really hated Explosion and I felt like I didn't show my full potential of writing. But, some people seemed to like it so I decided to keep it on my page. Rated T for violence and a little language. Please don't flame! R&R, but no flames :)

Disclaimer: I don't own invader zim, simple as that...

Prologue

"And that is how I destroyed the main source of fresh vegetables for the humans on this continent. I am working on a way to diminish the other food sources at this very moment." The irken invader said, finishing his mission report.

The two leaders looked at him with a bored expression on the monitor.

"That's great Zim." The first one said, gritting his teeth together. "Can't wait to hear about your next plan…"

"Why thank you my Tallest." Zim said excited. "I will tell you about it right now!"

"NO!" Both leaders cried out.

Zim tilted his head with a confused expression, his antennae cocked at different angles. "Why not? It is ingenious! I promise you will…" Suddenly a red blinking light was seen on Zim's screen. "Oh…Dang it…Pardon me my tallest, but I must attend earth school now." Zim said, disappointed.

The tallest both sighed in relief. "That's okay Zim…"

But…I will get to work on my project right away! I promise to give you a full update on my next success. Invader Zim, signing off" He said, saluting as he signed off.

Tallest Red sat back in his chair and rubbed his temples. "Hour long reports…I don't know how much more of this I can take."

"He's getting better…" His partner next to him said.

Red simply nodded.

"We knew this time would come." Tallest Purple said quietly, nibbling on a donut.

"I know…"

"Should we…"

"Yes…I definitely can't take any more of this little game." Red stood up fast, knocking over his chair.

"You!" Red said, pointing to one of the pilots. "Call her."

The small pilot jumped as his leader addressed him. "Yes Sir…right away Sir!" The pilot practically fell over himself trying to type in the call number.

The screen that Zim had just called on blinked and showed an irken logo as the call was placed.

The screen cut to static for a second…trying to pick up a signal.

"H…ello?" Someone on the other end of the line asked.

"Greetings." Red said, standing up.

"My…allest…what a great surprise!" The screen focused in on the irken; finally connecting to the signal. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?"

"We have a mission for you, if you're up for it."

The irken on the screen smiled, showing her pointy teeth.

"Of course."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Gir, Minimoose, I'm home from skool." Zim said as he opened the door and staggered inside.

Gir and Minimoose tore around the corner into the main part of the house (or living room as the humans would call it.)

"Master! You're home! We missed…" Gir broke off as he caught sight of his master.

"Squeak?" Minimoose asked Zim.

Zim sighed and walked to the couch, taking off his disguise. "No, I'm fine." He said, wincing as he sat on the couch. "I just got into a small fight with the Dib-human…I'm fine."

Both robots looked at their master in concern. He was covered in scratches and bruises. His shirt was ripped and covered in both green and red blood.

"Squeak?" Minimoose asked.

"Actually, I don't think anyone won this time." Zim said, lying down on the couch. "We both beat the crap out of each other…of course Zim will heal much faster than the Dib-worm. So in a way, I guess, Victory for Zim…" He said, not really excited at all by his accomplishment. "Minimoose, bring me a new uniform and maybe some bandages…" Zim closed his eyes.

Minimoose floated out of the living room and down into the lair, leaving Gir, who now sat next to his master, too shocked to do much help.

"Master wanna eat some waffles?" Gir said innocently.

"Not right now Gir…" The small alien said back, stifling a yawn.

"O…okay…then you wanna pet my pig?" Gir said, getting a small pig toy out of his head.

"Gir…please…I just want to rest." Zim said, turning onto his side, away from the robot.

Gir's antenna drooped. He had never seen his master act this way.

Minimoose came back with a new invader's uniform and some bandages.

"Thanks." Zim said softly, taking his ripped up uniform and wincing as shirt touched his wounds.

He threw the old shirt to the ground and reached for the bandages. When he was done covering his wounds, he put on his new uniform. Then, he lay back down on the couch and closed his eyes. "Zim wants to be alone for a while…" He said plainly.

The robots went into the kitchen, worried.

"Do you think we should make Master Zimmeh some muffins?" Gir asked Minimoose.

"Squeak…" Minimoose said.

"Okay…" Gir said, his antenna hanging in disappointment. He sure did want to make some muffins.

They sat in the kitchen for quite some time before they went back to check on their master.

When they did finally go back into the living room, they found Zim had not moved a muscle.

"Master?" Gir asked in a cheerful voice. "Are you done being alone now? We could watch TV and sing about rainbows!"

"Squeak!" Minimoose said, shushing Gir.

"What?" Gir protested. Minimoose pointed to Zim. "Squeak!"

Minimoose was right. The two robots watched as Zim's tiny chest rose and fell slowly.

"But why is he sleepin?" Gir asked.

"Squeak." Minimoose said softly.

"Oh…how long will it take masta to heal?" Gir asked in a quiet tone of voice.

"Squeak." Minimoose said, floating over to Zim and pointing at the bandages. The tiny moose took of some of the bandages, revealing that most of the wounds had healed up.

"Merh…get off of me…" Zim mumbled and shook his arm a little.

The robots waited for him to say more, but nothing happened. After a while, the sound of snoring could be heard.

"Zim won't be fully operational for approximately one hour." The computer said to the robots. "So I wouldn't bother him if I were you. He may wake up."

"Squeak!" Minimoose snapped at the computer.

"Because! Don't you know how hard it is for irkens to sleep? If Zim wakes up, he might not go back to sleep and he will be in an annoyingly cranky mood until he finishes sleeping. Personally, I don't really want to deal with him when he's twice as annoying as usual, do you?"

Minimoose sighed and shook his head (well, whole body). "Squeak."

"…don't look so depressed, he'll be back to his normal self in an hour…unfortunately." The computer said plainly.

An awkward silence fell over the robots. The only sound was the hum of the base and the soft snoring of the healing irken on the couch.

Author's note: Join operation head pigeons 2.0 to save invader zim


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"I think it's time for step two."

"I agree."

"You! Call Earth." Tallest Red pointed at a pilot. "It's time we gave Zim a call."

The pilot hooked up a transmition to earth in a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately, their call wasn't answered for a few minutes.

"Hello…?" A raspy voice finally answered on the other side of the screen.

The room was dark; the only source of light that shown was the light from the monitor in which they were transmiting on.

Two dull, magenta eyes looked up at the tallest.

"Zim?

"Greetings my tallest…" Zim said, yawning and rubbing his eyes.

"Umm...yeah, greetings Zim." Purple said. "Where you just…sleeping?"

"No. I just woke up about fifteen minutes or so ago." Zim stated.

"…Why?" Red asked.

"Um…pardon me my tallest, but where you calling for a reason?" Zim asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yes. Yes we were. Zim, we need you to come to the Massive for a while." Red stated.

"But, but what about my mission? I can't leave! I am so close! I mean, my project was delayed today by that Irk awful human, but…I can fix it! I just need a little more time!"

"Zim, just come to the massive please…" Red said, rubbing his temple. "We're very busy today and we can't keep arguing with you!"

"I am sorry my tallest, but I need to stay here!" Zim harrumphed and sat back in his chair.

Purple raised his non-existent eyebrow. "Are you disobeying a direct order from the tallest?"

Zim almost fell back in his chair. "No…No..No of course not my tallest…I…would never."

"Good, then meet us here on the massive as soon as possible!" Red snapped.

"Yes…yes…yes my tallest!" Zim stammered and saluted.

Red cut the transmission.

Zim leaned back in his chair. "Of course! Just my luck! Of all the days!" He really didn't want to go all the way to the Massive, but he couldn't disobey his leaders…oh well…the mission would have to wait.

Zim sighed and stood up, walking toward the elevator in his lab. "Well, no use complaining, I might as well go now. If I hurry, I might be able to try my new experiment tonight!"

The elevator lifted and brought him to the ship level.

"Master?" His antennae picked up a small voice from downstairs.

"Oh…right." Zim hissed to himself.

"Gir, Minimoose…I am going on a trip to the massive. Stay here and don't break anything." Zim yelled down to the two robots, getting in his voot cruiser.

"COMPUTER! Set course for the massive!" Zim said, pressing the auto pilot.

"I see you're feeling better." The computer sighed, turning onto auto pilot and lifting into the night air.

"What…what do you mean?" Zim asked, as the voot flew off into the sky.

"Oh…nothing."

…( I use periods as my page break because I have no idea how to make a page break!)

"Zim seems to be heading for the massive sir. His auto pilot turned on in his voot." A soldier called up to the two leaders.

Red turned around in his chair. "Good."

Purple smiled evilly, "Soon, he'll be out of our antennae for good."

Red mimicked the evil grin. "I hope everything goes to plan."

"My tallest." Someone interupted, walking into the room. "I am all prepared for the mission."

"Good." Red turned to greet the irken. "As soon as we deactivate Zim, you will go to earth. You will take down Zim's base and kill his two robots. While you're at it, kill the big head earthling too…I think his name was Did, or Sid, or something. He knows too much about our race."

"Thanks to Zim." Purple added.

"When you come back, we will give you your next mission." Red concluded.

"Thank you my tallest, this truly is an amazing opportunity." The irken said bowing and turning to go.

"Good luck, Invader Tak."

…..

Zim landed his ship on the Massive's landing dock. He got out of his ship and walked down the hall that lead to the tallest's command room.

The hallway was long…and a little dark. It was…kinda creepy.

There seemed to be no one on the ship…but there had to be SOMEONE on board. They must be in the control room with the tallest.

Zim continued to walk down the hall. It was very quiet…his footsteps were very loud on the metal floor of the ship.

Finally he made it to the end of the hallway.

"My tallest?" Zim said peering around the corner into the main control room where the tallest usually stayed. "Is anyone there?"

No one responded. The room was dark.

Zim walked up to the tallest's command chair. It was turned on to auto pilot. _Strange._ He thought. _The tallest almost never…_

Suddenly his antennae picked up a small noise. Zim turned around quickly. "Who's there?"

Silence was his answer. Zim looked around, angling his antennae, trying to hear the sound again.

There is was again…almost like a footstep.

"Come out!" He demanded.

The noise vanished. Zim started to feel drops of sweat form on his head. "I'm warning you…"

He saw a glint of light in the shadows. Zim made a fist, preparing to fight.

He stood like this for some time. Twitching his antennae and

Suddenly a sharp pain hit the back of his head and he fell to the ground.

He cried out in pain and grabbed his aching head. His vision started to blur.

Two pairs of invader boots showed in his vision.

The sound of high pitched laughing hit his antennae before the world was plunged into darkness.

…

"Wake up!" Someone slapped him on the face, bringing him back to consciousness.

Zim slowly opened his eyes and let out a long moan. The slap came again. "Shut up you worthless piece of…"

"Tak! That's enough, he's awake." Another voice sounded.

Zim looked up and blinked, trying to get his vision to clear. He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were tied down. "What is the meaning of this! Who are you?"

"Psh, I think he needs another slap Tak." A different voice sounded.

"With pleasure!"

A hard slap came to his cheek, clearing his vision up very fast. He looked up and cursed at the being who hit him. "Stop that! You!"

"What's the matter Zim? Don't like being slapped?" The being hit him again.

"Purple only said one slap Tak, don't get greedy." Someone said.

"When I tell the tallest you are going to be…" Zim broke off as he got sight of this captures.

There stood Purple, Red, and Tak on some sort of platform. Guards surrounded them.

"What…" Zim said confused.

"You just never got it Zim, did you?" Red sighed.

"What are you talking about…where am I?" Zim struggled. He was on his knees, hands tied behind his back.

"All in good time Zim, but before we tell you, we're going on a small trip."

The platform lifted, taking them to a different room.

"Where are we?" Zim demanded.

"Judgementia. You of all people should know that." Red

A wire came down and hooked on to Zim's PAK and slowly lifted him up into the air. The control brains moaned as the data from his PAK rushed into their circuits.

"What is this? REALEASE ZIM AT ONCE!" Zim screeched, trying to bring out his spider legs.

"Don't even try it Zim!" Tak yelled from below, "While you were unconscious, I put a device on your PAK that prevents your mechanical legs to open! Actually, I invented it myself."

Zim turned his head around and indeed found a small device hooked to his PAK.

The control brains murmured amongst themselves for a while. Finally, after a long minute, they were ready to speak.

"We have reached a decision…Irken Zim, you are a defective. Your PAK will be removed and erased from existence." The middle control brain said.

Zim let out a small gasp, but was too shocked to say anything else.

"Wait…didn't…don't..you have to put me on…trial or something?" Zim managed to say.

"We already did that you moron!" Tak screeched. "Your defective PAK messed with the system so the verdict was never truly reached."

The control brains murmured their agreement. "Now…we will shut down for a while. Even with seven control brains, it is hard to filter out your defective brain." One of the brains said.

The control brains released Zim, dropping him to the ground instead of lowering him slowly.

"But…I'm an…invader…I'm not…" Zim searched for the right words to say. His mind was racing, making him feel dizzy.

"Oh come on Zim, you can't tell me you haven't figured it out already." Red sighed, floating up to the irken.

"We sent you to earth to get RID of you." Purple explained. "You were never a REAL invader."

"So we basically lied." Red said bluntly.

"Why are you telling me this now?" Zim said quietly.

"You got better." Purple said.

"What does that mean?"

"Well you see Zim, the only reason we kept you alive for so long was that you amused us." Red said.

"Eh?" Zim turned his head, confused.

"I mean. Like when you called us in that bear suit! That was HILARIOUS!" Purple laughed.

"Or when you turned into bologna!" Red added.

"Well…of course there were the annoying parts." Purple sighed. "Calling for three hours…and such. But it was worth seeing how one irken could fail so miserably!"

"But, as you stayed longer on earth, you became boring. Some of your plans started working and you kept telling us all about them and how they were amazing and stuff. We lost interest." Red said. "We didn't care!"

"So yeah, we lied for fun. When it stopped being fun, we decided to kill you. Does that make sense?" Purple asked.

"No!" Zim screeched.

"Well, you're a defect so…you wouldn't understand." Purple said back.

A small tear escaped the irken's eyes despite the fact he was using all of this will to keep them in. He did not want to cry in front of his leaders, no matter what they had done to him.

"Any last request before your PAK is painfully removed from your spine?" Purple hissed evilly into his antennae.

Zim though for a while, trying to think of something fast.

"I…I want to talk to Tak…alone." He finally said, urging himself to not let out a sob.

Red and Purple looked at each other confused. "Uh…okay…I guess we could grant that." Red said and motioned for everyone to leave.

Everyone flooded out of the room.

The door closed as the last guard left the trial room, leaving Tak and Zim alone.

There was an awkward silence as Tak waited for Zim to compose himself.

Zim cleared his throat. "Tak…" Zim paused, not knowing what to say.

He looked up at her with watery eyes. "I…" Another pause.

"Oh Zim…you have no idea how much pleasure it brings me to see you like this." Tak hissed. "It is a shame that your friends won't be here to witness your destruction."

"They aren't my friends…invaders need no friends." Zim snapped.

"Oh, of course! Invaders need no one…but wait! You're not an invader!" Tak said in an evilly cheerful kind of tone. "You're just a FOOD SERVICE DRONE!"

Zim wasn't sure how to respond to this; so he said nothing.

"Oh…my mistake. You're not even good enough to be a food service drone. You're a DEFECTIVE!"

"Shut up!" Zim screamed back at her. "ZIM IS NO…" he couldn't say the last word. It caught in his throat.

Tak laughed right in his face. "What? IS the mighty defective Zim speechless?"

Zim spat in her face.

Tak let out a long hiss at him and stepped back. "Oh I am going to enjoy every minute on earth! I'll destroy all your pathetic friends!"

Now it was Zim's turn to hiss. "You leave them out of this! They have nothing to do with me! Don't kill them over me!"

Tak shook her head, "Zim, listen to yourself. Think about what you just said! You're PATHETIC! And that robot you love so dearly…is defective garbage just like you!"

"Garbage…G…that's what it stands for." Zim murmured to himself and almost smiled.

"Shut up and listen! I haven't finished bragging!" Tak slapped him hard of the face.

He let out a long hiss at her.

"I can't believe you're so gullible Zim," Tak continued, "I mean, why on IRK did you think the tallest would reward you for killing hundreds of lives? Why do you think they respect you for the horrible things you've done? You've even killed two Tallest! I mean, there must be a brain in that PAK of yours somewhere! I thought you would have figured it out when you were on your FIRST existence evaluation!"

Zim bowed his head. "Tak…please…just…"

"What?"

"…please, just…"

"Oh for Tallest's sake…what the hell do you want?" Tak screeched at Zim.

Zim mumbled something that Tak couldn't hear.

Tak sighed and moved closer to the irken, their faces barely touching.

"What?" Tak asked.

Suddenly Zim looked up and smiled.

Tak jerked back, but it was too late. Zim hit her in her squeedilyspooch with his knee.

Tak screamed and fell to the ground. Zim jumped and fell onto his back, breaking the restraints on his PAK.

Zim brought out his spider legs and ripped the restraints from his hands, freeing him.

He ran over to Tak who was still on the ground, moaning in pain.

"I said, see you later bitch." Zim hissed into her antennae and grabbed onto the ring on her head.

He gave it a hard tug, ripping it from her head. Tak screamed in pain.

Zim connected the ring to his own head and felt the sharp sting as it drilled into place.

He quickly turned on the hologram, turning into Tak, and ran out the door.

"Are you done talking with him?" Red met Zim at the door, trying to peer in.

Zim nodded as he ran away from the mob of irkens.

"Wait, don't you want to see his destruction?" Purple asked.

"Um…video tape it for me!" Zim said in the highest pitched voice he could muster.

"Hmmm…where do you think she's going?" Red asked.

"Who cares? Let's go kill Zim now!" Purple said excited.

"Okay!" Red said, equally excited.

They walked through the door, followed by the soldiers and guards.

"Tak?" Purple saw the female irken on the floor in a small pool of blood.

"Wait, if Tak is here…then where is…"

The tallest gasped. "ZIM!"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Zim ran as fast as his spider legs could take him.

"ZIM!" He heard the tallest scream.

Zim's eyes widened and he willed his legs to go faster.

He tore down the hallway, passing many different irkens. Some were food service drones, others were regular workers.

Many of them were soldiers escorting criminals who were about to get tried by the control brains for their crimes against the empire.

No one shot at him as he ran past because of Tak's ring. They all thought Zim was Tak.

Zim concentrated hard. The ring was harder to operate than he had thought. It took all his concentration to work both the ring and his spider legs.

His PAK started to spark as he ran further and further. He remembered how to get out from last time he was there…but it was hard to think…his concentration was slipping.

Zim gasped as his spider legs gave out and he tumbled to the floor.

"GAH! My PAK must still be low on energy from my last healing!" Zim cursed as he started to get up.

"Here, let my help you." A voice came from above him.

Zim looked up. His heart (or whatever irkens have) skipped a beat.

Standing in front of him was a team of elites.

The elite offered him a clawed hand. "Hey, you're Tak right? Aren't you the new invader?"

Zim took the hand and nodded. He dared not speak.

"Yeah, I'm supposed to become an invader soon." The elite continued. "I can't wait to destroy a planet!"

Zim nodded and slowly started to walk away. The tallest were on his heals…he couldn't stop and chat with some elite. Elites weren't AS good as invaders, but they weren't something to sneeze at either. Especially a whole GROUP of them…trained to fight as a team.

"Oh, I get it, you got to go. Being an invader sure must be a busy job. Good luck!" The elite said.

Zim nodded. And turned around to go away. But the oddest thing happened.

Pain coursed into his head and he fell to his knees from the shock of it.

His concentration disappeared.

"Hey, are you…" The elite started.

Zim's hologram faded and disappeared.

"Shit…" Zim squeaked.

The elite glared at him. "You're not Tak…you're that defect!"

Zim turned and ran screaming.

The elite twitched his antennae, signaling for his group to follow. "GET HIM!"

The elites tore after Zim.

Zim turned the corner, frantically searching for a way out.

"STOP! BY THE ORDER OF THE TALLEST, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST!" The elite screamed.

"Bite me!" Zim turned his head and picked up the pace.

The good thing was that he could work his spider legs again since he didn't need to use the ring.

He retracted the mechanical legs in hopes to lose the elites. They probably didn't have as good of spider legs due to the fact that they weren't invaders…but apparently neither was he…

Zim gulped, hoping the tallest had at given him faster ones.

Wait…he recognized that hallway…IT LEAD TO THE SHIP PARKING!

Zim turned and dashed down the hallway.

Suddenly, something hit his spider leg.

Zim almost tumbled to the ground for the second time, but he managed to regain his balance at the last second.

He spun his head around. The elites were almost on him. The elite that he had been talking to was now shooting a small laser at him.

Zim smirked. That small laser wouldn't be able to break skin, let alone a hard metallic spider leg…

Zim was cut from his thoughts when he heard the gun fired and a snap.

The elite had good aim…his back spider leg had been cut clear in half from the shot.

Zim cursed and used his remaining spider legs to dodge the shots speeding past his head.

"He's getting away!" A different elite gasped.

"Not if I can help it! Close the door to the docking level! I don't want this defect escaping! It could affect my chances of becoming an invader!" The head elite screamed at the others.

Zim could see the door of the docking level. He was so close!

"AUGH!" Zim cried out in frustration as another shot from the elite hit his front spider leg, sending him crashing to the floor. "COME ON!"

"Warning. Docking Level 0-0-5 is now closing. Please stand clear." A computer voice sounded from an intercom.

Zim looked at the coming elites, and then at the closing door, and back at the elites. Crushed by huge doors…or Shot by angry elites…decisions, decisions.

Zim sheathed his spider lags and dashed toward the closing doors.

"NO!" The elite cried out.

Zim barely managed to squeeze through the closing doors before it sealed.

"Door Sealed." The computer sounded.

Zim frantically looked around for his ship. But…it wasn't there.

"Of course it isn't here." Zim hissed to himself, finding a decent size ship to steal. "It would still be on the massive."

Zim used one of his working spider legs to jam open the cockpit.

Once it was open, he climbed inside and started to hot wire it.

"Opening Docking Level 0-0-5." A computer voice sounded.

Zim's antennae rose.

"Just one more wire…GOT IT!" Zim screamed as the ship began to start.

He quickly sat down and prepared to take off.

"STOP HIM!"

Zim looked out of the cock pit to see the elite shooting at his fuel tanks.

"Can't a guy get a break?" Zim hissed and searched for something to shoot back with.

But, of course, Zim had chosen the only transportation ship…no weapons.

Zim closed his eyes, hoping that the gun wouldn't break through his tanks.

"Ready to take off." The computer in his ship said.

Zim grabbed the controls and jammed the ship into drive.

"NOOOOOOO!" The elite screamed as ZIm took off into Judgementia's atmosphere.

Author's Note: Thanks to those who reviewed and fav'ed! 3


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
"DIB HUMAN! WAKE UP!" Zim screeched into the Dib's ear.

Dib's eyes flew open as he was startled by the rude awakening. He sat up, trying to see who was there. He gasped as he saw the small figure next to him.

"Gah! Who are you? What are you doing in my house?" Dib jumped out of his covers and staggered over to the edge of his bed, falling over himself as he tried to get away from the intruder.

"What do you mean 'who are you?'" Zim mimicked. "We've known each other for…" Zim was cut off by a baseball bat being swung at his head.

"Get out of my house!" Dib screamed and swung the bat again, but this time in a completely different direction.

"What the hell is going on in their Dib?" Gaz screamed through the walls of the other room.

"There's a robber in our house!" Dib screamed, this time swinging the bat farther away from Zim.

"What? Zim is no robber!" Zim said, dodging so he would not get hit by the bat.

Dib stopped, trying to locate Zim's voice. "Wait…Zim?"

"Who else would it be stupid?" Zim said. "I need your assistance!"

Dib smacked his forehead. "Do you know how late it is?"  
"0323 hours on earth. But that doesn't matter right now!" Zim snapped back.

"God Zim, you scared me half to death!" Dib staggered around the room, touching the walls with the hand that wasn't holding the bat.

"Um…what are you doing?" Zim raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Trying to find my nightstand." Dib replied. "I can't see anything."

"Why do you need this 'stand of night'…does it help you see?"

Dib rolled his squinted eyes. "Sure Zim…"

"That is strange…" Zim said, not getting the sarcasm.

"No…I need my glasses which are on the nightstand which is a sort of table." Dib said, finally finding his way to the nightstand and slipped on his glasses.

Once he had his glasses in place, he turned on the light.

Zim laughed as he saw the state the human was in. Dib had his arm in a small splint and he was covered in bruises and cuts. All this had been caused by the little fight they had earlier. While Zim had healed in a matter of hours, Dib was still wounded pretty badly.

Also Dib was in spaceship pajamas, so it was hard not to laugh…even in the situation he was in.

Dib, still holding the bat in his good arm, waited for Zim to finish his little laughing fit and start explaining.

"Are you going to tell me why you're here or am I just going to have to beat you with my bat?" Dib asked, annoyed at Zim's intrusion.

Zim cleared his throat. "Yes, I had a reason for coming." his voice became serious, and a little sad. His antennae drooped as he remembered the serious situation he was in.  
"I just escaped." Zim said, looking down to the ground.  
"Escaped from what?" dib asked.  
Zim opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out.  
"...they lied." he finally said. "I escaped. I stole a ship and flew as fast as I could."  
"...what are you talking about?" Dib raised his eyebrow, thinking Zim had finally lost it.

"Zim just hopes that she won't follow anytime soon. She should be in the infirmary for a few days. It might slow her down, but not for long, she will heal…eventually. That ring probably left a pretty nasty scar on her head!" Zim chuckled to himself. "But even so, she still will try to hunt me down."

"Zim?" Dib asked.

Zim looked up at Dib, forgetting where he was for a second…oh right.

"Sorry human, we may not have much time…I'll explain on the way to my base." Zim said, turning to go and motioning for Dib to follow.  
"I'm not going anywhere with you!" Dib said, crossing his arms over his chest.  
"And why not?"  
"You're crazy and I can't trust you...oh and did you forget the fact that we're enemies?"  
Zim silently cursed to himself. It was going to be hard to convince the human to help him.  
"Dib...I have no wish to partake in destroying your pathetic planet so you can trust me and stuff." Zim said slowly, hating everything that he was saying.  
Dib blinked, then burst out laughing.  
"That's a good one Zim. Like i would trust YOU! And that is a really bad excuse for wanting me to 'trust' you. You've been trying to take over earth for two years, why stop now? What did you really come back here for...Did you come back for another round?" Dib held up his bat. "I'm ready! I beat you before and I can do it again!"  
"What! You didn't win! If anything, Zim was the victor, but that is beside the point. Dib, Look...I know you and I are enemies, but...I need your help."  
Zim looked at dib in the eye, absolutely hating every second of this. He, the great Zim, should not need help from a lowly human...but here he was. But, in truth he really did need help, even though he didn't want to admit it.  
Tears started to obscure his vision, but he held them back...he would never stoop so low as to cry in front of his enemy.  
Dib sighed and put down his bat. "What did you do this time?"  
"I did nothing human!" Zim screeched.  
Dib raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you here?"  
"..." Zim wondered how he was going to say this without getting emotional...he had been an irken soldier trained to show no emotion, of course he was good at hiding his emotions. But in a situation like this...when his whole life had been a lie and it felt like the floor has been ripped right out of his feet, it was hard not to...to...  
Zim felt a hot tear roll down the side of his cheek.  
He turned his head quickly and swiped at his face. "Shit."  
"Zim?" Dib asked, a small hint of concern laced with mild amusement in his voice. "Are you..."  
"I'm fine Dib-worm...I'm fine." Zim hissed.  
"What the heck is going on in here?" a voice sounded at the door.  
Dib turned his head. "Sorry to wake you Gaz, Zim snuck inside and woke me up."  
Gaz opened one of her squinted eyes very slightly, and glared at Zim. "So...why is he here?"  
"I don't know. He won't tell me." Dib answered.  
"I WAS GETTING TO THAT!" Zim yelled out.  
A silence fell over them. Dib and Gaz stared at Zim, confused.  
Zim looked to the ground. "..."  
"Ooookay, I'm going to bed." Gaz said, turning to go. "Just shut up…I'm TRYING to sleep."  
When she was gone, Dib looked back at Zim and asked, "So what happened?"  
Zim took in a big, shaky breath and proceeded to tell Dib what happened. He only told Dib what was necessary; that he was not truly an invader and the armada was coming to kill him. He left out the whole 'defect' thing...  
Dib listened intently to Zim but did not really believe anything that the little alien was saying. He watched as Zim paced back and forth, explaining the 'dire' situation in which 'they' were in. It was probably another lame excuse to trick Dib into doing something stupid...or at least, so he thought. Zim did look very upset about something for one thing...his eyes dark and his antennae sagging. Maybe...no, Zim surely was putting on a show like he had earlier this morning. Dib had to admit, Zim was a getting pretty good. He wasn't as incompetent as he used to be. This morning was a perfect example of this. Zim had pretended to get dragged into an alleyway, when Dib went over to help, Zim had jumped him, which was when the fight started. Zim was also a pretty good fighter...Dib had the scars to prove it. But this wasn't the first fight they had had. Their fights became more and more frequent over the past few months. No matter how hard each of them fought though, the fights never got too out of hand. This was one of the worst fights they had had for a while.  
"Dib?"  
Dib was snapped back into reality by Zim's sad voice.  
Zim stared at him, awaiting an answer.  
"Sorry...what did you say?" Dib asked, a little embarrassed.  
Zim sighed and slapped his forehead. "Dib, you amaze me with your stupidity."  
"Whatever," Dib yawned. "Just hurry up so I can kick you out and go back to sleep."  
Zim hissed, "You seem to fail at understanding the serious of this issue!"  
Dib responded by another yawn.  
Zim sighed. No wonder humans were behind in their technology...they were always sleeping. Irkens only slept when it was necessary, like this morning. But it felt wired to sleep. It felt weak...  
"Okay Dib-worm, I will try to make this as easy as possible...Do you remember Tak?"  
Zim started to pace again.  
"Yeah?"  
"Well you know how she had a vendetta on me?"  
"yeah..."  
"Well, she's coming to kill us."

"She has orders from the tallest to..."  
"WHAT?" Dib interrupted. "Why does she want to kill ME? I didn't do anything!."  
Zim sneered. "You know too much for your own good. That's why. Maybe if you hadn't spied on me constantly, you wouldn't be in this mess."  
"Maybe I wouldn't be in this mess if a certain alien wasn't trying to take over the planet!"  
Dib yelled.  
"Both of you, shut up or I'll come in there and rip your arms off!" Gaz screamed from across the hall.  
Zim let out a long hiss. "I don't even know why I am bothering with this, obviously we will get nowhere trying to help each other. I'm going to get my robots and leave this filthy planet...have fun dyeing." Zim turned and walked out the door with a harrumph.  
"Whatever space boy." Dib followed, making sure the alien was leaving and not sneaking into his father's lab.  
Dib followed Zim down the stairs and to the door. Zim glared back at him one more time before walking out the door and slamming it shut. 


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Author's notes: thanks to those of you who have sent in reviews! They are highly appreciated!

Zim slammed Dib's door shut and walked out into the chilly night. He saw Dib peering Out of his window in the corner of his eye but Zim really didn't care anymore about the Dib beast.  
Zim sighed and walked toward his base. The cold air nipped at his antennae; hinting the changing seasons. Oh how he hated earth winter...stupid tilted planet.  
The wind picked up, blowing some of the dead leaves of off the small trees that were planted in front of the houses.  
He really didn't feel like going back to his base...he couldn't face Girl and Minimize just yet.

He felt another tear escape his eye. But he quickly swiped it away. "No you stupid smeet. This is not the time to get soft!" He hissed to himself.

Zim took in a big, shaky breath and headed to the base. He needed to get back, even though all he wanted to do was crawl in a hole.  
Zim walked up his front walk and stood at the door, still debating in whether to go inside.  
Finally, he decided to go inside. He opened the door slowly, not making a sound.  
The house was dark and quiet. Girl and Minimize must have been in shut down mode for the night.  
Zim sighed and plopped himself on his couch, pleased that he did not have to face the robots just yet.  
He felt his eyelids get heavy. He closed his eyes and turned on his side, yawning as he did so.  
He felt himself drifting off to sleep, though he really didn't need to sleep...his wounds were all healed up...he was just...exhausted. And a night's rest couldn't hurt him…right?  
"Master?" a voice sounded before he plunged into the darkness of sleep.  
_The voice faded away…everything turned black, like someone switching off a light. _

'_Never an Invader!'_

_Zim looked around, trying to figure out where he was. His ocular implants switched to night vision, helping him to see his surroundings._

_He seemed to be in a great hall…he was on a stand in the center of it. A wire was hooked to his back and his hands were tied behind his back._

'_Mistake!'_

_Zim saw two figures talking to each other. They seemed to be laughing._

_He tried to walk over to them, but he couldn't move. He was completely immobilized._

'_Gullible!' _

_He looked beyond the two figures…there were three big…hanging things…on the wall._

'_Garbage'_

_He tried to yell out to the others…ordering someone to help him, but nothing came out._

_The two figures looked at him and smiled evilly…an unknown light source glinted against their pointy teeth and their dark eyes._

'_Deactivate him!'_

_Zim turned to run, this time his feet listened, but he seemed to only be able to run in slow motion._

_The two figures were almost on top of him. He could feel their hot breath._

_He tried with all his might to make the scene go away. _

'_Remove his PAK!'_

_But it played faster and faster before his eyes._

_He cried out in agony. 'Please! Make it stop! I didn't do anything!'_

_But nothing was working. He came to the edge of the hall…nowhere else to go. He turned to face the two beings. He tried to retract his spider legs; instead the wire that was connected to his PAK, wrapped around him; around his mouth. It was suffocating him._

_He managed to push the wire away and cried out for help…but to no avail…it was too late._

'_DEFECT!'_

A hard, metallic sound woke Zim up. He opened his eyes fast, but closed them as a stinging pain arose in his forehead.

"Master?"

He was covered in sweat and breathing fast.

"Master? Are you okay?"

Zim tried to stand up, but the effort of the simple objection wade him dizzy and nauseous.

"Master…"

Zim curled into a ball. What had just happened? A nightmare? Irkens don't get nightmares.

"Master, we're sorry we took the metal ring off of your head…it looked like it was hurting you…please don't be mad."

Zim wanted to cry out for help, but his voice didn't seem to work right.

He slowly opened his magenta eyes, blinking as sunlight pooled in from the window.

Gir was sitting next to him with a deeply concerned expression.

"…Gir?" Zim said in a raspy voice. He seemed to be lying on the floor. "…I…ow, shit, my head…it…" Zim grabbed the spot where Tak's ring was. But it was gone. The skin had healed up, leaving only a slight bump. But the ring removal shouldn't have hurt that much…well, unless Gir had done it as carelessly as he had done when taking it off of Tak.

"Squeak."

Zim looked up at the source of the sound. Minimoose was floating above his head, holding Tak's metal ring with one of his nubs. That was strange…Minimoose was competent enough to remove the ring perfectly. Then why did his head hurt so much…

"Minimoose?" Zim said.

"Squeak!"

"Did…dib you guys…ow!" Zim's head felt like it was throbbing.

"Master! We couldn't wake you up! It was so scary! You kept saying to make it stop…but we didn't know what you meant." Gir screamed into Zim's antennae, making his head ache even more.

Zim sat up slowly, leaning his back against the couch. "I did no such thing!" He said, clearing his voice.

"Yes you did! You were screaming! Right Minimoose?" Gir said.

"Squeak!" Minimoose agreed.

"Take that silly thought out of your heads. Zim did nothing of the sorts." Zim said, starting to stand up, using the couch for support.

The robots looked at him confused, but forgot all about it in a manner of seconds.

Zim shakily made it to his feet. "Okay, we are leaving earth now!" Zim said, pointing his finger up in the air impressively.

"What? Why? Aren't you gunna blow it up?" Gir asked.

Zim rolled his eyes. "Of course not, why would you think that?"

Gir looked at him confused. "Ain't that the mission or somethin?"

Zim bit his lip, hoping his little mind trick was going to work. "No?"

"Okay!" Gir's silly expression returned to his face.

Zim looked up at Minimoose, who was not as easily persuaded.

The robot stared back at him, suspicion glazed in his eyes.

Gir looked up at Minimoose. His eyes went wide as he saw Tak's ring.

"OH! SHINY!" Gir screamed and grabbed the ring from the moose's nubby hands. He was just about to put it into his mouth before Zim snatched it back.

"No Gir! I may need…" Zim started.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door, causing everyone to jump.

"I know you're in there! Come out!" A voice sounded on the other side of the door.

Gir jumped to his feet and let out a squeal, excited to see who was at the door.

"Gir! Shush!" Zim quickly grabbed Gir and slapped a hand over his mouth.

"Come on Zim! You can't hide forever!"

Zim shushed Gir and retracted his spider legs. He very slowly crawled along the side of the wall onto the ceiling, still restraining Gir.

Minimoose continued to float near the base of the couch, looking up at his master in a confused expression.

Zim motioned for Minimoose to follow with a flick of his antennae.

Minimoose rolled his eyes and reluctantly followed up onto the ceiling and toward the door.

When Zim over top of the door, he slowly used his spider legs to open the door knob.

Someone pushed open the door as soon as it had opened. "Gesh Zim…'bout time!"

Dib walked inside the base and looked around, confused at how the door had opened by itself.

"Oh…it's only you human." Zim sighed and dropped Gir to the floor. The little robot landed with a clang, unfazed.

"YEAH! That was fun! Let's do it again!" Gir said, standing up and running into the kitchen for God knows what.

"Um…Zim?" Dib turned around, catching sight of the small alien above the door. "Why are you up there?"

Zim used his spider legs to maneuver back to the ground. When he had both feet firmly placed on the ground, they snaked back into his PAK. He swaggered a little, his head hurting even worse.

"Silly human, I thought you were Tak. I was going to jump you as you came in!" Zim said like it was the most obvious thing in the whole world.

"Ooookay…" Dib raised an eyebrow.

Zim placed his palm on the spot the ring had been removed in an attempt to lessen the throbbing in his head. "Why are you here?"

"I got to thinking…the last time you predicted Tak had an evil plan, you were right. So I thought I better check out what was going on."

Zim rolled his eyes. "Glad you came to reason." He leaned against the side of the open door an in attempt to look normal instead of in excruciating pain.

"But I still…hey you don't look so good." Dib strayed off from the topic.

"What do you mean? Zim is perfectly normal!" Zim waved his free hand dismissively.

"You just look…never mind." Dib said. "As I was saying…but I still don't trust you. I need some proof."

Zim rolled his eyes, pathetic human…always had to do things the hard way. "Fine…and if I get you this…proof…will you help?"

Dib shrugged, "Sure, why not?"

Zim thought for a second…how would he get this proof? The only thing he could think was to tell him the whole story…but that would require telling Dib about his defectiveness, which was defiantly not an option. But he couldn't think of anything better to do…but that might have been due to the throbbing caused by the pain in his head.

"But what do you think Tak is up to? To be honest, I really wasn't paying attention last night, but seriously Zim…three in the morning? You could have at least waited until like, I don't know, six!" Dib said when Zim didn't respond.

Zim just nodded his head and closed his eyes. "Uh huh…" The room started to spin.

"Uh, Zim? That didn't really answer my question."

He gritted his teeth together, willing the pain to go away.

"Zim…are you even paying attention?" Dib said, coming closer to the alien.

He couldn't respond.

"Oh, you're ignoring me…I guess I can understand why…after I kind of ignored you last night…But still, not very mature on your part. Never mind, I'm going to be late for skool. I'll come back later to see your proof." He started to walk out the door.

"No Dib…shit…I…" Zim managed to find his voice and tried to grab Dib, but his legs felt wobbly.

"Don't worry Space Monster, I'll be back. Gesh what a whiner!" Dib rolled his eyes.

Zim felt his body go limp and he collapsed to the floor.

"Zim?"


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Author's note: Hey! I will be on vacation and I will not have my laptop with me so the story probably won't be updated until after spring break…sorry!

Splash.

A burning pain all over his body, brought him back to consciousness.

"If that didn't wake him up, he's dead…can I go home now?"

Zim opened his eyes. Dib stood over him with a bucket.

"What the hell?" he tried to stand, but couldn't find the strength.

"Finally! Their…he's awake! Now let me leave! I'm missing first period, and unlike Zim, I tend to try and NOT skip school." Dib said shoving the bucket over to Gir, who was standing to the side of him.

"Squeak!" Minimoose said, bumping into Dib.

"What do you mean it was MY fault? I didn't even touch him!" Dib protested.

"Squeak!"

"I swear! I didn't do anything!"

"Will…you…two…shut up!" Zim screeched in a raspy voice. "And Dib! What the hell did you DO?"

"I threw a bucket of water on you." Dib chuckled. "It's really fun!"

Zim laughed sarcastically, "Hahaha SOOO funny! Burning pain is SO HUMOROUS!"

"Actually…it kind of is!" Dib laughed, "Worth missing english…THAT's for sure!"

Zim retracted his spider legs, lifting himself to his feet. He was still smoking from the water, and his head still hurt like hell. To sum it all up, he was not having a great week.

"If I didn't need your help human, I would kill you this second!" He hissed.

"SURE you would, anyways; my dad is going to kill me if I skip, so I gotta go." Dib dropped the bucket onto the floor and ran out the door.

"I hate you!" Zim cried to Dib as he slammed the door closed.

Zim sighed and walked, well dragged himself, over to the couch.

"YEAH! MASTER'S AWAKE! NOW WE CAN PLAY!" Gir screeched right in Zim's antenna.

Zim winced at the robot's loud voice. "GIR! SHUT UP! ZIM IS IN NO MOOD FOR YOUR NONSENCE!"

That shut Gir up…

Zim harrumphed and flopped down onto the couch. "If either of you disturb Zim, I will…take away your food privileges!"

Minimoose and Gir simultaneously gasped and dashed into the kitchen in an attempt to not disturb their pissed off master.

Zim sighed…he really didn't have to be so mean to his robots…they were really his only companions…but he just felt…awful. It had been the worst two days of his life. And Zim had a feeling it was only going to get worse.

"Computer…replay the footage from the security cameras last night." Zim ordered his computer.

"What? Why?" The computer asked.

"What is this? 20 questions? Zim gave you an order!" Zim rasped.

"Gesh…whatever." The computer snapped back. He uploaded the footage on the television screen.

_Zim staggered in and headed straight for the couch. He flopped down upon it and instantly closed his eyes._

_Gir walked in right after Zim had closed his eyes. "Master?"_

_Minimoose came in. "Squeak." He said, upon seeing Zim sleeping again."_

"_But I thought he had finished healing." Gir said confused._

_Minimoose shrugged. _

_The two robots left the room._

"Okay…nothing wrong with that." Zim said to himself.

"Computer play the security footage from this morning."

_Zim lay on the couch in an awkward position. His left arm and leg hanging over the side of the couch. He murmured in his sleep._

_Gir walked in quietly. _

_Suddenly Zim gasped, "Stop! Please! Make it stop!"_

_Gir jumped in surprise. "Master? What's wrong?"_

_Gir ran over to Zim and attempted to wake him up._

_Zim grabbed the ring that was on his head and yelped in pain._

"_Master!" Gir yelled._

"…"_Zim didn't answer._

"_MASTER!"Gir repeated._

"…_go…away." Zim managed to say. _

_Minimoose floated in the room quickly._

"_Squeak?"he asked._

"_I don't know! Master's not waking up! Master!"Gir yelled into Zim's antennae._

"_Make it stop…please." Zim murmured. _

"_Squeak?" Minimoose asked, pointing to the metal ring on Zim's head._

"_Do you think we should take it off?" Gir asked._

_Minimoose nodded and floated down next to the ring. He pressed the correct button for extraction and the ring fell of off Zim's head into Minimooses nubby hands._

_Zim opened his eyes and let out a long moan._

"Stop the replay." Zim said to the computer.

"Hmm…Minimoose seems to have extracted the ring the right way…then why does my head hurt." Zim said to himself.

"I don't know." The computer replied.

Zim rolled his eyes. "Um…run a diagnostics on me…see if the ring could have done any damage."

"Fine." The computer said.

"Diagnostics complete." The computer said after about two minutes. "The ring is known to cause some side effects on some irkens. Usually you're supposed to be tested to see if you can handle it or something."

"I was desperate okay." Zim cut the computer off.

"I haven't finished." The computer whined.

"So just get on with it! What are the side effects?" Zim huffed.

The computer beeped. "Oh…wait…data corruption. No data found."

"What do you mean? You had it a second ago!" Zim slapped his forehead. Yep…his luck just sucked.

"Umm…it vanished."

"What do you mean it vanished! Whatever…just try and reload it."

"Okay…nope…still no data." The computer said.

"You didn't even try!" Zim pointed accusingly at the screen.

"Yeah I did!" It protested.

"Nu-uh!"

"Ya-hu!"

"Nu-uh!"

"Fine! If you're so smart, why don't you fix your own dang PAK?" The computer said in an annoyed tone.

"Wait…there is something wrong with my PAK?" Zim asked, forgetting the argument.

"Maybe there is and maybe there isn't." The computer said in a very rude tone. "Find the problem on your own!"

"Well maybe I will!" Zim screamed at the computer.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

The screen disappeared.

Zim tore of his glove and reached for his PAK, taking it off of his spine. He touched one of the pink dots with one of his clawed, green fingers. The PAK, recognizing his hand print, opened up a small compartment.

Zim inspected his PAK for a good five minutes; finding nothing wrong with it. The mechanics seemed to all be in working order…WAIT!

There was a small wire that was broken. Zim reached in another compartment in his PAK and took out a fusing tool. He quickly fused the two broken wire pieces back together.

Zim was going to inspect longer, but his life clock was nearing 3:30.

He replaced his PAK onto his back, feeling the hard wires re-connect to his spine.

He waited for a few seconds…nothing happened. Or at least, his headache didn't go away.

"Computer?" Zim asked hesitantly. "Was that the problem that the ring caused?"

He received no response.

"Did I fix it?"

Again…no response.

Zim threw down his fusing tool (which he had forgotten to replace back into his PAK) to the ground. "Damn it! Answer you're master!"

But, this still got him no response.

Zim flopped down onto the couch and crossed his hands over his chest.

"Stupid computer…stupid, stupid piece of junk!" He glared at the hole where the screen had disappeared. "Stupid!"

He paused trying to find other words he could call his computer besides stupid.

"Stupid, worthless…crazy…evil…defective…" Zim stopped, realizing what he had just said. The word pierced through his heart (or whatever irkens have), like a thorn.

Zim lay down, closing his eyes. He tried to think of something else…something happy…his robots were in the other room and he would not stand for crying in front of them. He was still an irken soldier; with that stubborn irken pride. Even if the tallest said he wasn't a real invader…he would always be a soldier. So what? Invader was just a title…

Zim sighed…knowing it was much more than that.


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Author's note: hey y'all sorry for not updating in a while. Please review! I like nice reviews…they make writing more pleasant. hope you had a merry platypus…I mean a happy easter!

'_Where are you Zim?' A voice sounded._

'_You can't hide forever. We're going to get you someday!'_

_Zim hid behind a box in the same eerie dark room with the three things hanging on the wall._

'_Come out, Come out, where ever you are!' the sing song voice made his blood turn cold._

_Suddenly the box that he was behind was torn away from him._

'_Found you!'_

_Zim made an attempt to run, but he was stuck to the floor._

'_Don't worry Zim…we won't hurt you!' The figure hissed._

'_Much' The other one came up to him._

'_Please! Let me go!'_

'_Oh do try and run Zim…it makes the experience more…enjoyable.'_

'_Yeah you lizard! Squirm!'_

'_Who are you? What did I do?' he screeched._

'_Oh Zim, ZIm, Zim…you really want to know what you did Zim?'_

_There was a small pause…the last word lingered on around him. The room seemed to melt away._

'_You were born!' _

_Suddenly a light flashed on, revealing the two figures…_

'_Tak? Dib?'_

'_Defect!'they hissed at him._

"_Defect!'_

'_DEFECT!'_

_Four icy hands grabbed onto his back…_

…_or was it only one…on his face?_

"Zim! I will get the bucket of water if I have to…WAKE UP!" Zim felt a hard slap to the face.

He blinked his eyes open and sat up quickly. He was panting and his body was covered in sweat.

"God Zim, you are sure one heavy sleeper." A voice sounded beside him.

Zim flicked his antennae and turned to see Dib standing next to him.

"Hehe, and you talk in your sleep too." Dib chuckled. "What the hell does Defect mean?"

Zim screamed.

Dib recoiled away from the screaming alien. "God Zim! It's just me!"

Zim finally stopped screaming, but he retracted his spider legs for protection. "Don't remove it!"

Dib stared at Zim blankly. "…what?"

Zim curled up into a ball, "Don't remove it! I am no defect!"

Dib stepped back thinking Zim was entirely crazy. "Uh, I won't."

"But you…" Zim understood after a few seconds…The nightmares were getting worse…they almost felt real.

Zim slowly retracted his spider legs and made his breathing even. His head didn't hurt as much…there was a slight head ache, but it wasn't as bad as it had been. He must have fixed the problem that Tak's stupid ring had caused.

"Uh, Zim." Dib snapped his fingers in front of the alien's eyes.

Zim glared at him. "What are you doing in my house human? I did not invite you into the house of Zim!"

Dib rolled his eyes. "The Tak situation…remember?"

Zim chuckled. "Oh yeah. But wait. I have not gotten you're 'proof' yet! Dangit! I was sleeping again! So much valuable time wasted on simple resting!"

Dib raised an eyebrow and smirked, bringing out a small notebook and a pencil. "Irkens don't sleep?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Zim hissed and jumped down from the couch, straightening out his uniform.

"Interesting." Dib scribbled down something on his notepad, but seemed to be having trouble writing with his injured arm. The small sling had been removed, but the arm still looked weak. His father must have fixed it or something, but not as well as an irken could.

Zim grabbed Dib's pencil and broke it in half. "Did you have a reason for coming to the base of Zim?" He threw the pencil halves at Dib's head.

"Oh, right. I've got some good news and bad news."

Zim sighed, not really wanting to hear any bad news right now. "Tell me the good news."

"You don't need proof. I believe you." Dib said plainly.

"And why the sudden change of thought?"

"Well…that's the bad news." Dib rubbed the back of his head. "Tak was at skool today."

If Zim would have been drinking or eating something, he would have chocked. "What? She's already on Earth! Oh this is bad…this is really bad."

"Okay, so what do we do?" Dib asked.

Zim started to pace back and forth. "Um…we could. No wait, that won't work. Uh how about? No…no…Uh, I guess…no."

Zim twitched his antennae and looked up at Dib with a defeated look.

"You don't know…do you?" Dib asked.

Zim looked down at his feet.

"I thought you had a plan." Dib said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Zim avoided contact with Dib. "Uh…that's kind of why I need your help Dib-worm."

"So the mighty invader Zim needs help from a dirty lowlife like me?" Dib snorted sarcastically. "You must be in some serious trouble."

"It is a dire situation." Zim said, ignoring the sarcasm. "I don't know what to do."

Dib sighed. "I may be able to help, but what do I get in return?"

"Not being killed." Zim hissed, clenching his pointy teeth together.

Dib gulped. "You can't hurt me. You need me."

Zim slapped his forehead. "Not me you idiot! Tak! She is the danger! She has orders from the tallest to destroy you! But more importantly, she has orders to destroy Zim! As much as I would like to kill you Dib…" He paused, dragging out the name. "I will spare you if you help me."

"So…a truce." Dib said, mulling it over.

"As close to a truce as we'll ever get." Zim hissed. He hated this.

Dib nodded. "In order to help you, you're going to have to tell me the whole story. Why does she have orders to kill you and me?"

"You know too much about my race." Zim said plainly.

"Why didn't they send you?" Dib smirked. "Am I too hard to kill?"

Zim snorted, "Please, I could kill you right now."

Dib rolled his eyes. "Okay, if you could kill me, then why did they send Tak?"  
Zim bit his lip. "Uh…is that really important. I mean, she is trying to kill us either way."

"And why did you say you weren't really an invader?" Dib pressed.

Zim paused. Was it necessary for Dib to step on his pride even more? "I'm not."

"Oh really, then what have you been doing for the past two years. I'm pretty sure you were trying to take over the planet. Isn't that what invaders do?"

Zim resisted the urge to lash out at Dib. "Yes…but, it was a lie."

"What was a lie?" Dib was getting impatient.

"I was never a true invader, even though I thought I was. My leaders lied to me." Zim gritted his teeth.

"And why would they do that?" Dib said, not believing a word of what was coming out of Zim's mouth.

Zim's antennae drooped. He looked away from Dib.

"Why? Huh? Why?" Dib repeated.

"I DON'T KNOW!" Zim lied.

Dib recoiled a bit at Zim's sudden outburst.

There was an awkward pause between the two.

"I don't believe you." Dib said slowly. "You're lying."

Another pause. Zim turned around and hissed. "So what if I am? What are you going to do about it?"

Dib smirked. "Leave you to Tak."

Zim cursed and started to pace. "I can't tell you, alright? I just can't. Some things are better left not said."

"Fine, have fun at skool tomorrow." Dib shrugged and left the kitchen; heading for the door.

"But…but what about you? Without me you'll be killed." Zim's eyes widened. He frantically thought of a way to trick the Dib into helping him.

Dib stopped at the door and turned around smirking. "Sure Zim…I'm the one who needs help. You're probably just lying to get me to help you. Tak seemed to not have a problem with me in skool today."

And with that, Dib walked out of the door.


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

a/n Thanks for the reviews! Enjoy the next chapter! :) btw, there is no DATR (dib/Tak) in this…even if it seems like it…

Zim snuck through the skool door carefully, trying not to draw attention to himself.

Unfortunately, when you're a green kid with no ears or a nose, attention isn't hard to find.

"Hey Zim. Decided to show up I see." He heard a voice sound from behind him.

"GAH!" He screamed and turned around. "Don't kill me!"

He heard a chuckle. "Wow."

Zim sneered. Dib…stupid human. "Irk Dib! Don't sneak up on me. I might have stuck a PAK leg in you."

Dib got out of the way of the door for the incoming traffic and leaned on the side of the lockers by Zim. "So if you're so scared of Tak, why did you come to skool today?"

Zim rolled his eyes. "Foolish Dib worm, Zim is not afraid of Tak! Zim doesn't know the meaning of fear! HA!"

Dib raised an eyebrow. Then he glanced over Zim's shoulder. "OH MY GOSH! ZIM! IT'S TAK!" Dib screamed as he pointed behind Zim.

Zim spun around; his antennae almost pushed his wig right off of his head in alarm.

He searched the hallway…but…Tak wasn't anywhere in sight.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Dib broke off into laughing.

Zim turned his head slowly, glaring at the big headed boy. "That wasn't funny."

Dib continued to laugh, "Yes…it…was! HAHAHAHA!"

Zim's eyes narrowed to slits. "This is serious human! The Tak could destroy Zim!"

Dib giggled, "Yep."

"And you." Zim hissed, trying to get Dib to understand.

"Suuuure…whatever. But, you didn't answer my question. Why are you here? You've skipped before. Why not do it again?" Dib said, forcing himself to keep from laughing.

Zim smiled, "Because, unlike you, I have a plan!"

"Great, cause we both know how great your plans turn out." Dib said, rolling his eyes and beginning to walk away.

"Hey! Where are YOU going? Don't you want to hear my AMAZING plan?" Zim walked in front of Dib.

"Look, I'd love to stand here and listen to your monologue about your 'ingenious' plan, but I'd like to not be late for class. I got in some serious trouble for being late last time." Dib pushed Zim out of the way.

"Fine! I don't WANT you to hear my plan!" Zim shouted after him.

"Yes you do." Dib said, before turning the corner.

Zim hissed, curse that Dib! He should just leave him for Tak! Then the big head would be sorry!

Zim reached into his pocket; his gloved claws taking out Tak's ring.

He could almost feel the headache that was about to come…

…but it would be worth it.

He quickly slipped the ring on his head. He winced as the cold metal drilled into place.

Zim switched it on, going into camouflage mode. Even though he knew he could not be seen, he still hid behind a group of classmates and slowly made his way down the long hallway.

Zim felt his antennae twitch nervously, trying to pick up any scent or sound from the dangers that may be lurking in the hallway. He just hoped Tak couldn't pick up his scent.

Finally he made it to the classroom and stepped inside.

The bell rang and students flooded in, almost knocking the invisible alien over.

"Hey watch where you're…" Zim slapped his hands over his mouth.

Some of the kids looked around confused. "Did you say something?"

"No."

"I swore I heard someone say something."

"Nah, probably just the door squeaking. This school is old."

The kids shrugged and went to their desks leaving Zim behind.

'I can't talk! That'll blow my cover' he thought to himself.

Zim stood to the side of the door, allowing the rest of the students to pass before finally going into his chair.

He glanced over at Tak's old desk, which had been abandoned since Tak had left. But now, she sat in the desk, sitting up straight and alert. Her hologram projected her human form. She cocked her head and glanced over at Zim's desk.

'darn, she smells me.' Zim thought and felt sweat start to form at the top of his head.

Tak glared at the 'empty' desk for a few seconds before being distracted by someone walking into the door.

Dib walked in and sat in the seat in front of Tak's.

He turned his head around and said hello.

Tak glanced back over at Zim's desk. "So where's Zim today?"

"I think he stayed home." Dib lied.

"Why?" she snapped.

Dib leaned back in his chair. "I don't know…"

Tak glared at him. "Are you sure?"

"Of course…He probably stayed home to work on a project."

"What kind of project?"

"I have no idea…but whatever it is, I'm going to put a stop to it." Dib said with enthusiasm.

Zim was grateful that Dib was lying. At least the human wasn't a total waste of space.

"Yeah, have fun with that…" Tak rolled her eyes, apparently bored with the conversation.

"DIB! TAK! STOP CONVERSING! CLASS IS BEGINNING!" Mrs. Bitters said, slapping a ruler down on Dib's desk. Dib was shocked by the sudden noise and jerked back, almost falling out of his desk out of his desk.

Tak snickered. Dib rolled his eyes and sat back up in his chair.

"Class, today we are going to learn about the history of the World War II. Open your pages up to 386." Mrs. Bitters said.

The class moaned and reluctantly obeyed, getting out their books and plopping them on their desks.

Zim didn't move. He was sure that Tak somehow knew he was there.

He sat like this for a while, listening to the teacher rant about the War and how everyone was doomed. As he sat, it became harder and harder to concentrate. His head began to hurt and the cloaking device was hard to keep on. It was MUCH harder to control than his spider legs. It took more focused concentration…instead of four mechanical legs, he had to focus on his entire body.

His head felt like it was pounding after an hour of sitting. He needed a break, after all, his plan didn't involve the classroom.

But there was a problem…the door was closed, and so were all the windows. There was no way to escape without giving his position away.

So Zim sat on, wishing he would have thought his plan through more.

After another long hour of sitting, he began to feel tired. His eyes began to droop and he had to lay his head down on the desk.

He felt himself drifting off into sleep.

Zim shook his head, forcing himself to stay awake. He wasn't sure if the cloaking device would work if he was asleep. But, the effort to keep the ring activated was draining his PAK.

Irk, why did everything have to go wrong?

…..

Dib scribbled down some notes that Mrs. Bitters was saying, but he had already learned most of this lesson before, so there was really no point. He stared of into space and started to chew on his pencil.

He glanced around the room. Most of the other children were either asleep, or doing homework that was due tomorrow. A few were texting their friends, but no one was paying any bit of attention to the lecture.

Why should they? They had already heard the lecture before.

All of a sudden, something caught Dib's eye; a glimmer of light near Zim's seat.

"Strange…" he murmured. He continued to glance at Zim's seat, making sure it wasn't just a trick of the eye.

Suddenly, Zim appeared out of thin air. He had his face down on his desk and his eyes closed.

Dib quickly rolled up his notes into a ball. He threw the paper ball at Zim in an attempt to wake him up.

The ball hit Zim in the head, instantly waking him up. He looked around confused for a second, then disappeared again.

"DIB!" Mrs. Bitters looked up from her book. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I was just…uh…throwing my paper away." Dib lied. "But, I have bad aim."

"Next time get up and walk your lazy butt over to the trashcan." Mrs. Bitters hissed and looked back at her book.

Dib sighed. 'Yeah, you're welcome space boy' he thought to himself.

He glanced back at Tak, who eyed him with a suspicious look. He gave her a weak smile and took out a new sheet of paper. 'Dang, now I need to rewrite the notes.'

….

Zim sat up straight in his desk. He was wide awake now. His head wasn't hurting anymore. A quick nap had strengthened him, even if it had almost blown his cover. Thank the Tallest that Dib had woken him up. That could have gotten messy. Zim was grateful the human was helping. But not so grateful as to actually save his big head from Tak…no, Dib had his chance to get help and he had blown it.

Finally, the lunch bell rang, awakening all the students who were asleep.

'Now to put my plan in action.' Zim thought happily.

…

Dib walked outside to eat lunch. It was a pretty day. The sun shone brightly overhead.

Dib sat down at a picnic table. Gaz was already sitting there…and much to Dib's surprise, so was Tak.

Gaz punched down on her gameslave 3.

"So how's it going Gaz?" Dib asked, opening his lunch.

"Don't talk to me Dib, I'm on the last level." Gaz hissed and turned her back to him.

"Fine." Dib rolled his eyes and took a sip of his juicebox.

"So Tak where did you go?" Dib asked awkwardly, trying to start up a conversation.

"You know damn well where I went." Tak hissed. "You two shot me into space."

"Technically only Zim did…I just stopped the machine." Dib rebutted.

"Which I was using to prove myself worthy as an invader." Tak's eyes narrowed.

Dib gulped. "So…why did you come back to Earth?" Dib saw something in the corner of his eye…it looked like a shadow.

He raised his eyebrow.

Tak followed his line of vision and turned around. But there was nothing. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing…I just thought I saw…" Dib broke off.

"Saw what?" Tak glared at him.

"Nothing." Dib shook his head.

Tak continued to glare at him suspiciously.

"Why did you come back to Earth?" Dib repeated his question.

Tak smiled evilly, "All will be revealed soon enough." Her hologram faded for a second, showing off her purple eyes. She spun around, looking frantically behind her.

Dib looked around to see if anyone noticed, but off course, no one did.

Dib spotted something again. This time it was much closer to Tak's back.

Zim…it was Zim's shadow.

Tak cocked her head for a moment and stood up. She rolled her eyes and snorted, "One second."

Tak quickly jerked around and roundhouse kicked something in the face.

Zim let out a gasp of surprise as he hit the ground. His hologram quickly disappeared and showed his whole body.

Dib slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand. "That was your 'ingenious' plan?"

"I was desperate," wheezed Zim.

Tak laughed, "A cloaking device…how clever. Where did you get one of those? The tallest would never…" she broke off upon seeing her ring. "Oh you son of a…"

Zim quickly got up off of his feet and lashed out at Tak.

"You were trying to deactivate my PAK weren't you?" Tak hissed, quickly blocking Zim. "With the aid of MY technology!"

Students started to gather around them, noticing the commotion. Everyone seemed to know that a good fight was about to happen. There were actually so many people that Dib was pushed back by the crowd gathering around them.

"Fight, Fight, Fight!" The children formed a circle around Zim and Tak.

"Well this ends now you little piece of shit." Tak hissed at Zim, getting into her battle stance.

They circled around each other while the crowd continued to yell. Dib pushed his way up to the front, not wanting to miss a second of this.

Tak had the first move; she lunged at Zim, who instinctively dodged.

Tak turned on her toes as soon as she landed and got ready for another attack.

But Zim dodged again, and stuck out his foot, tripping Tak.

Tak let out a long hiss. She pushed herself off the ground with her spider legs.

"See! Look at that! Humans don't have mechanical legs! They're aliens!" Dib told the crowd…but they didn't listen. They were just too engulfed in how awesome the fight was.

"It's just like on T.V.!" A random kid squealed in the background.

Zim also retracted his spider legs.

Tak suddenly spun around and roundhouse kicked Zim right where his ring was connected to his head, causing him to fly to the ground.

He moaned and tried to get up, but Tak, after sheathing her spider legs, put her boot on his back.

"Defect." She hissed as she grabbed for his PAK.

Zim turned around onto his back, knocking Tak to the ground.

He made his spider legs pick him up. He put his hand to his head, feeling where Tak had kicked him. When he pulled his hand away, his glove was covered in green blood.

"Oh, you're going to pay for that!" Zim said, lunging at Tak.

She smirked and dodged with her spider legs. "You know Zim, I'm actually surprised you're not dead right now."

Zim huffed and felt his head begin to hurt. He needed to end this…soon!

Tak swiveled around him, shoving him to the ground again. "That ring was specially designed by me, like my ship."

Zim crawled out of the way of an incoming blow that was placed near his head.

Tak regained her balance, preparing for another blow. "It was designed to infect the carrier with a poison!"

Zim swept at Tak's feet in an attempt to make her loose balance.

"Of course, I'm immune to it, but others aren't." Tak jumped up with the aid of her spider legs, dodging Zim's sweep.

"You should have died, it would have made my job a whole lot easier!" Tak slammed her fist into the side of his head and pounced on top of him. "Not that this isn't easy."

"Stop talking and finish him already!" A random kid in the crowd of children screamed above the commotion. The others screamed their assent.

Zim started to see stars and he could taste blood in his mouth. There was a sick pounding in his head…he needed to get the ring off before he passed out.

Tak pulled back her fist, "say good night defective trash!"

But, suddenly Zim broke free and punched Tak in the eye. Tak staggered backwards from the blow and cursed loudly. Zim managed to stand. He stood hunched over, smiling. "Never."

Black dots filled his vision. The world started to spin. "You'll never take me…no matter how hard you try. Zim will always prevail! For I AM the superior being!" He pressed a button on his ring and it came off. Almost automatically, his head stopped hurting and he could begin to focus.

Dib resisted the urge to laugh from how corny Zim's little speech sounded. He really just wanted some popcorn and a lawn chair. This was getting really good. The crowd gasped in anticipation for what was coming…who was going to win?

Zim ran at Tak, spider legs retracted and ready. "I may not be an invader…"

Tak stood tall with the aid of her mechanical legs. She pushed herself towards the sky, looking menacing.

"…but I've been trained as one." Zim finished as he tackled Tak. They both slammed down to the ground. Tak hissed loudly as Zim smirked and placed his front left spider leg on her neck. "Like I said…You'll NEVER take me!" The crowd cheered and clapped like this was just some sick play.

Zim threw back his head and let out an evil laugh. "VICTORY! ZIM HAS WON!"

Tak snorted and reached for her PAK and drawing out a gun. "Oh it's far from over."


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Author's note: Hey y'all! As always, thanks for reviews! They make me so happy! I AM SO SORRY I DIDN'T UPDATE! I've been really busy with school! And I had a huge writer's block…sorry! I'll try to get the next chapter out faster… and I know Zim is getting beat up pretty badly, but that's the point of this story! (he's actually my favorite character…I just like torturing him) To be honest, I feel like I utterly failed in the middle…I'm not very good with filler :p but I liked writing the beginning and end…

Zim froze, not expecting Tak to have such a powerful weapon. Tak took the opportunity to quickly throw Zim off of her. He flew to the ground on his back a few feet away from her. She got up and stood above him, cocking her gun menacingly. "No one move or I'll blast all your heads off!" Tak screeched.

"Where…where did you get that?" Zim stuttered, and pushed himself back away from her.

She grinned and started to walk towards him. "I'd tell you, but it would be more fun if you guessed."

"You stole it?" Zim sneered.

"No…guess again." Tak pointed it at his face.

"You borrowed it?" Zim asked; sweat starting to form on the top of his head.

"You're really bad at this. But no matter, an idiot like you would take all night to get the answer, so I'll just tell you." She hissed, her eyes narrowing to slits. "I'm an invader now."

Zim gulped. "Uh…"

"No thanks to you and your little pet!" She said, pointing the gun at Dib.

"Hey! I'm not his…" Dib began to protest.

"SHUT UP!" Tak screamed, blasting the ground near Dib's feet. "I'm TALKING!"

A few of the children in the crowd whimpered.

"All of you…BE QUITE! What are you, smeets? Does the freaking gun SCARE you?" Tak yelled.

"Kinda" A little girl near the front whimpered.

"SHUT UP!" Tak hissed and shot the ground by the girl's feet.

Zim stood up slowly while Tak was distracted. He started to back up; trying to escape, but Tak pointed the gun back at him. "Hold on defect. Where do you think you're going?"

Zim ran towards the group; however Tak was quickly on his heels.

She rushed him and hit him on the head with the back of her gun. Zim fell to the ground with a startled gasp.

Tak quickly reached for Zim, grabbing him by the neck. Zim felt her claws dig into his neck and start to choke him. He struggled trying to throw the hand of off him. Tak chuckled and hardened her grip. Zim coughed and gasped, trying to breath.

"Stop! You're chocking him!" Dib said, a hint of worry glimmering in his voice.

"That's the point idiot!" Tak said, raising Zim off the ground. She was at least a head taller than him.

Zim brought up his hands and tried to release her grip with his own gloved claws. This only caused Tak to hiss and clench harder.

"There's nowhere to run." She hissed into his antennae.

She slowly reached up toward his wig with her gun hand. Zim felt the metal of the weapon run along the side of his head. She gripped onto his fake black hair with one of her fingers and started to pull.

"No!" Zim wheezed. He struggled again, but it was no use…Tak was a lot stronger than him. "You wouldn't dare!"

She let out a little chuckle and grinned. "Wouldn't I?"

"OKAY! FIGHT'S OVER! BREAK IT UP!" Tak paused when she heard the teacher's voice on the outside of the crowd. Her eyes narrowed with displeasure.

"This isn't over!" Tak screeched and blasted her gun into the air.

"Does that student have a gun?" The teacher bellowed. "That's against school policy! Put it down and come here! You're in BIG trouble! Don't make me call the police!"

Tak's eyes raced from Zim to the outer crowd where the teacher's voice could be heard. "No! I wasn't supposed to be caught! The tallest will kill me!" Her eyes shot daggers at Zim. "This is all YOUR fault!"

Zim's lungs (or whatever he has) burned from lack of oxygen. "Let…me…g-go!"

Tak threw him to the ground and hissed violently. "This is not happening!"

Zim flopped on the ground, coughing and wheezing as he tried to regain his breath. Dib took a step into the circle towards him. "Tak…drop the gun."

Tak whipped around and hissed. "No! And I said NOT TO MOVE!"

Tak brought the gun up, aiming for Dib's head, and pulled the trigger back.

Suddenly a blast from outside the crowd of children shot the gun away from Tak's hand. She hissed and glared at the source of the shot.

"FREEZE! EVERYONE DOWN ON THE GROUND!"

Everyone except for Tak and Dib quickly dropped down to the ground. Zim was already on the ground, so he didn't have to go far.

Three policemen stood with their guns cocked and ready. "Hands behind your head!"

Tak hissed and ran towards the closest man, leaping over the children. She tried to knock him to the ground but instead the man shot her in the shoulder. Tak screeched and fell to the ground. She held up a hand to her wound. Green blood stained her glove. "Inferior human! You shot me!"

"Grab her!" One of the men screamed. Tak's eyes widened and she stumbled backwards.

…

Dib helped Zim to his feet. He coughed once and rubbed his aching throat. "Dib…we got to help Tak."

Dib raised an eyebrow. "Why? She's apparently trying to kill us."

Zim nodded. "Yeah, but if she is captured my race will be exposed!"

Dib rolled his eyes. "Isn't that a good thing since they hate you?"

Zim shook his head and sighed. "No, then the humans might suspect me of being an alien…and, well, to be honest, I still have to serve my tallest, even if they did lie."

The two boys looked over at the men who were trying to restrain Tak. "She seems to be fine by herself." Dib observed as Tak dodged out of the way.

Zim hissed. "Come on…maybe if we save her, she won't kill us."

"But the police might…" Dib hesitated.

"I'm more worried about the trained invader than the three humans." Zim said and ran towards the fight.

"Fine." Dib picked up Tak's gun and reluctantly followed.

…..

Tak screeched as he felt a big, meaty hand grip her wounded shoulder. She quickly spun around and kicked the man in the ribs. She heard a satisfying crack and the guard doubled over onto the concrete.

Tak twitched her antennae and picked up the sound of a human communication device being turned on. "We need back up! And fast! Send the FBI!"

_They're sending reinforcements. _Tak thought to herself.

She angled her antennae again and heard the far off siren of the human's defense vehicles.

Suddenly Tak felt herself being lifted from the ground by the back of her shirt. She writhed around in an attempt to free herself, but the man had a tight grip.

"Get your hands off of me you worthless piece of meat!"

"I got her! You guys get the other two!" The voice of her capture said behind her head.

"Drop her!" Tak heard the familiar 'click' of an irken gun being cocked.

Tak felt the man's grip loosen and she was dropped to the ground.

"Need some help?"

Tak turned to meet the eyes of Zim. "Not from a defect." She hissed with venom in her tone.

Zim shrugged. "It's either me or Dib. And I don't think Dib could even handle a gun."

"Hey! They've got the gun back guys! Help!" The policeman cried out to his fellow officers.

Tak banged the guy in the ribs and turned to the last standing officer. She quickly stole her gun back from Zim and put it to the man's head. "Down on the ground or I'll shoot your friend!"  
The man reluctantly obeyed.

"Dib, you can come out of hiding now." Zim said over his shoulder.

Dib sidestepped into view. "I wasn't hiding; I was watching your back."

Zim rolled his eyes, "sure…whatever, we got to get out of here. I think more will be coming."

Tak's eyes darted to the small forest on the other side of the street. "We could hide there, humans aren't very good at navigating."

Zim and Dib nodded their assent and started to jog over to the street. Zim stopped as he noticed the irken invader was not following.

He turned. "Aren't you coming?"

Tak hesitated. "Why are you helping me? I'm still going to kill you."

Zim shrugged. "I have to…It's what I was taught. No matter how much I hate you and the tallest right now, I won't have our race being exposed."

Tak pondered this for a second. "I can respect that, but I'm still going to kill you."

Zim smirked, "I doubt it."

That did it. How dare this defective drone say something like that! Tak ran up to him and almost spit in his face from disgust. "Don't you DARE talk to me like that EVER AGAIN! I will destroy you slowly and painfully. I'll rip the PAK right off your spine and shove it down. your. throat."

Zim gulped and backed towards the forest.

Tak stayed in the street for a second, trying to control her anger. She spit on the pavement and hissed to herself.

She twitched her antennae one last time before going into the woods. The sound of the sirens was closer, less than a mile away.

…

Dib and Tak ducked down in order to not be seen behind the bush. Zim, who was smaller than those two, could stand up without being seen.

"Where should we go?" Dib whispered.

"I say we go left, my ship is that way." Tak whispered.

"What? And have you capture and kill us? No thanks, we shall go right! My base is not too far from here." Zim said.

"And have you capture ME? No, we are going LEFT!" Tak hissed.

"RIGHT!"

"LEFT!"

"RIGHT!"

"You two sound like an old married couple." Dib rolled his eyes.

"WE DO NOT!" Zim and Tak screamed.

"Hey! What was that?" A far away voice sounded.

They froze.

"I think it came from over here." Another voice called.

Zim twitched his antennae. "They're coming." He whispered.

Tak twitched her antennae too and nodded.

"What should we do?" Zim started to back up further into the bush.

"I don't know! You think of something." Tak followed.

"Why do I have to think of something?"

"Hey, guys." Dib said. "I have a plan…"

The two irkens gave him hard looks.

"What? I'm not allowed to come up with plans?" Dib protested.

Zim rolled his eyes. "No offence Dib, but I think the members of the superior species should be the ones in charge."

"So if you're the same species, who is in charge?" Dib asked sarcastically.

"Well, than we determine it by rank, so I'm in charge." Zim said, obviously not picking up on the sarcasm.

"Why would you think that?" Tak hissed, "I'm a higher rank than you."

"Nuh uh! Apparently I'm a food service drone, so I'm higher."

"But I'm a bloody invader, on what planet are food service drones higher than invaders?"

"For all we know, the tallest could have lied to you and you're still a janitorial drone. Food drones are higher than janitors." Zim snapped.

"Even if the tallest did lie, which they certainly did not, I would still outrank you because you're a defect!"

"GUYS! They're coming! Can we please stay focused?" Dib asked.

The two irkens glared at each other, but fell quiet.

"Thank you…Zim do you still have that ring?"

"Yeah, but I'd rather not have to use it if we don't have to." He winced at the thought of having to put the metal ring back in his head.

"Well you'll have to. Tak, can you turn invisible to?" Dib turned to the female alien.

"It's not invisibility, it's called cloaking, they're totally different subjects…but yes, I can."

"Good, you two will turn invisible and meet me at my house since neither of you two trust each other. We can use my ship…"

"Since when do you have a ship? I didn't think humans were that technologically advanced." Tak asked, confused.

"Uh…I'll tell you later." Dib tugged at his trench coat collar.

"Tch…I'd rather die than take orders from a human." Tak sneered.

"Hey! I see them! FREEZE!" A big man wearing all black and holding a gun, screamed.

"Fine! Meet you there." Tak said before disappearing.

Zim gave Dib a weary glance and slipped the metallic ring on his head once again.

He quickly disappeared right before the big guard shoved his way through the shrubbery.

"AH!" Dib screeched. "Don't hurt me!"

"Woops, sorry kid! I'm just looking for those three delinquents with the gun…say, weren't you with them?"

Dib blinked, trying to look upset. "N-no…they were holding me hostage! They almost shot my head off! I think they went that way!" Dib pointed towards the school. "They said something about robbing the school's fundraising money."

"Those fiends! Don't worry kid, the FBI will stop them!" The man reached for his microphone. "I need backup, locate my position and come immediately."

Dib sighed as the man started to walk away.

But, for some reason the man stopped. "Oh, by the way kid…"

The man turned and grabbed his gun, cocking it as he turned. "You're a terrible liar."

Dib gulped and backed further into the bush.

"I don't think so!" Dib felt a hand grab the back of his trench coat. He was pulled back out of the bushes and lifted into the air. He felt the cold metal from the gun touch the back of his neck.

"You're going downtown with me young man! You're in BIG tro-."

All of a sudden, the gun was smacked away from the guard's hand. "What the…?"

But he never got to finish. Something grabbed him by the hand and squeezed hard. The man cried out in pain and let Dib go. Dib fell to the ground and fled back into the bush.

The man swirled around. "Oh no you…"

Something smacked the man in the head, causing him to fall to the ground. "Where is that coming from?" He screeched.

Dib heard a crack as the man's leg was bent forwards. The man cried out in pain.

Suddenly Dib felt three fingers wrap around his arm. "We need to get out of here."

"Zim?" Dib asked, he could barely hear the irken's voice. "Is that you?"

"RUN!" The voice screeched.

Dib ran with the disguised irken. They ran as fast as they could out of the small woods.

Thankfully it only took them a matter of seconds to get out of the park that was beside the school and back into the neighborhood. Dib almost stumbled as the grass gave way into sidewalk.

They ran down the streets. Dib kept looking back to see if anyone was following them. He couldn't tell if Zim was doing it too because…well, he was invisible and all.

Soon enough, Dib recognized the street they were on. It wasn't too far from where he lived. "This way." Dib said, changing course to the quickest way to get home. The irken seemed to protest the idea of taking orders from Dib, but he reluctantly agreed and let Dib lead.

"Thanks Zim! I thought I was toast!" Dib panted when they finally reached the safety of his house.

The air next to Dib glimmered for a second. Slowly, the cloaking device was lifted. "You think that defective could have stopped an armed cop?"

"Tak?" Dib was shocked. "You were the one that helped me?"

"Duh." Tak rolled her eyes.

"Why?"

"I thought it would benefit both parties if I saved you." Tak stated. "I will spare you for now, unless…you want me to kill you."

"No thanks…uh, I'm good." Dib walked up to his garage.

"Whatever, you're just prolonging the outcome." Tak shrugged.

"Where's Zim? He should have been here by now!" Dib said, opening the garage door.

"He probably wimped out…the idiot." Tak hissed.

"Well we'll have to find him." Dib walked into the garage. "Maybe you can cloak the ship and we can search for him?"

"Of course human…wait…is that MY SHIP?"

…

Zim staggered into a clearing between the trees. He couldn't figure out where he was...his guidance system seemed to be malfunctioning. He put his hands on his knees in order to catch his breath.

"Must be the stupid ring." He panted. "Takes too much effort just to keep me alive when I use it. Should've asked Tak to fix it before…I used it again."

Zim shut down the cloaking device and looked around. He must have been in the park, hence all the trees. The park was close to the Dib's. All he would have to do is get out of the blasted forest without being caught by the humans and he would be fi-.

Suddenly a loud howl rang through the air.

Zim twitched his antennae. "Oh no…"

(a/n like I said, it wasn't my best chapter…so don't flame plz?)


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

a/n as always, I am very grateful for reviews! Thanks guys! I hope you enjoy the next chapter 'cause I know Zim won't! (Zim: "She's right!")

Zim flinched as he heard the baying of hounds. He could hear their clumsy feet drag through the forest floor, making heavy footsteps. The humans were trying to track him.

He suppressed a cry of frustration and continued to press on into the foliage. He kept his antennae poised at an alert position, which was actually very hard with his scratchy wig on. He heard the earth monsters running in circles. They seemed to be looking for his scent, but not succeeding.

Zim snickered. Inferior sensory information. The stupid dogs needed a scent to chase. And where would they even get his scent!

Wait…

Zim thought for a second. _Could _the dogs somehow have gotten his scent? Nah, that was impossible. But Zim picked up his pace through the woods. For some reason, he started to sweat. He felt his hands start to shake. Zim clenched his hands into fists to steady them.

"Stay calm you big smeet." Zim hissed to himself. "It's just a bunch of slobbering earth monsters. Nothing to be worried about."

He continued to press on, though not as fast. He began to hear the familiar pounding in his head that reminded him that he had been wearing Tak's ring too long. "Irritating little device…I'm glad I never got one of these stupid implants." He hissed to himself as he felt it get caught on a branch. He quickly freed himself and continued on. He walked through a thick patch of bushes and accidentally caught his foot on a root. Zim flailed his arms wildly in an attempt to stop the fall, but instead, he fell face-first into a bramble branch.

"This is exactly why IRK HAS NO WILDLIFE!" Zim screeched as he got up and childishly stomped the bramble branch. He didn't stop until the poor plant was flattened into the dirt.

He stood panting for a while, then with a blunt nod of satisfaction, continued on with a clipped soldier's march. "I still wish I could destroy this stuuuupid ball of dirt. I guess I am going to have to tell Gir and Minimoose the truth eventually. Wait!"

Zim slapped his forehead. "Why didn't I think of this before!"

Zim quickly took out his PAK communicator.

"Gir! Come in Gir!" Zim said excitedly. "Gir?"

There was no answer. He only received static.

Zim heard a loud beep and a spark. He turned around slowly, almost regretting what was to come.

His PAK sparked again and his communicator slinked back quickly.

"Of course!" Zim screeched and kicked the nearest tree with his boot. "OW!" He held his now aching foot and let out a stream of curses.

Suddenly a loud howl filled the air. Zim turned around, eyes wide open and antennae twitching wildly. He could hear the thundering of paws against the hard earth soil. "Oh irk."

The dogs had picked up his scent and they were coming for him.

…..

"You stole my SHIP!" Tak grabbed the human's trench coat collar and shook wildly.

"Technically I didn't STEAL it…I sort of, recycled it." Dib said, readjusting his glasses.

Tak glared at the human and threw him to the ground. "Well I'm taking it back."

Tak stomped towards her ship and climbed in.

"Welcome Dib." The computer said happily.

Tak raised a non-existent eyebrow. "What? It's me you idiot."

Dib walked into the garage. "Uh, yeah, the personality was kind of deleted…but it wasn't my fault! It was Zim!"

Tak cursed in irken and banged the ship with her fist. "Stupid defect!"

Tak pressed a button on the ship and a wire popped out. "Now I have to download my personality all over again!"

She plugged the wire into her PAK and pressed another button. The ship roared to life and an blue electric shock ran up the wire.

Soon enough, the download was completed and Tak's ship was back to the way it was.

"Irken Invader Tak, pak number 772-36 download completed." The ship said in a British accent.

"Good. Contact SIR unit Mimi." Tak said pressing various buttons on the ship.

A screen showed on the dashboard. Tak's SIR unit appeared on the screen as a cat. "Yes my master?"

"Mimi, abandon the old ship, it is of no use to me…voot cruisers are so last decade. I have located my ship. Locate the Dib human's house and come."

Mimi saluted and quickly disappeared.

Tak turned off the screen and sat back in the chair. "Now, what am I going to do with you?"

Dib gulped and backed up.

"You serve me no purpose now that I have means of escape…" She continued.

"But-."

"Shut it."

Silence fell over the garage.

"I could kill you now…but you might be useful to me in the future." Tak pondered. "Zim might be more of challenge than I originally thought."

Dib bit his lip. "Or you can spare us…"

Tak laughed. "Yeah, sure. Why don't I just spit in the tallests' face instead?"

Another awkward silence came. Dib felt a chill run up his back and had the sudden feeling that he was in danger.

"I think I will spare you…for now. You'll prove useful in defeating the real threat." Tak hissed, her eyes turning to slits.

Dib felt a metallic claw wrap around his head.

"Restrain him Mimi."

…..

Zim ran as fast as his legs could take him. He ignored the stinging from the branches that hit him and tore at his clothes. He jumped over fallen trees and rocks.

A chorus of excited yips rang through the air. The dogs had seen him…the chase was on.

Zim didn't dare look over his shoulder. He didn't want to trip like those stupid humans did in 'horror' films. The human female always seems to look over their shoulder and then trip. It's like an invitation for the monster or whatever to catch you. Humans were all idiots. No, Zim was not going to look over his shoulder…

Zim gasped in surprise as something bit his foot. He looked over his shoulder and saw a huge brown dog latched onto his boot.

Zim screeched and shook his leg wildly to get the dog off of him. The dog had a very tight grip. Zim cried out as he felt its teeth dig into his skin. "Get your filthy dog germs off of ZIM!" He shook his foot and his boot came loose, making the dog loose his grip. The dog yowled and rolled off of Zim's leg.

Zim laughed and looked back at the dog. "HA! YOU HAVE BEEN BESTED BY THE MIGHTINESS OF ZI-"

Zim felt his leg get caught and the ground rushed to meet his head. The impact was enough to make him see stars. He looked up and saw that his foot had been caught by another bramble branch. A growl camp from the bush in front of him.

"Oh, Irk."

Almost immediately the other dogs were on him. They snapped at his legs and ripped at his uniform. Zim struggled to get away, kicking and flailing his arms wildly. He felt his wig get ripped from his head and a sharp pain hit his antennae.

Zim screamed and hissed at the dogs in irken. He could barely see anything but fangs and fur. Damp, hot breath ran down his neck as the dogs bit at his throat.

"Enough."

And just like that, the dogs were gone. Zim huffed and sat up. His head spun and the world was a blur. He vaguely saw a man standing in the brush of the forest. The dogs walked around him, waiting for the order to strike again.

"You're under arrest." The man sneered.

Zim shook his head to clear it. He tried to get up but his muscles ached in protest. Scratches and bite marks covered his frail body.

"How on irk did you track me!" Zim spat at the officer. "You're inferior techniques should have never worked!"

"You shouldn't leave your toys lying around." The officer smirked and threw Tak's gun in front of Zim's feet.


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Author's note: sorry I haven't updated in a while...I unfortunately still have school. And finals are coming up.

"RELEASE ZIM AT ONCE!"

"Cuff 'em, boys! This one's dangerous."

Two men grabbed his arms and handcuffed them together.

"Foolish humans! Do you think your restraining devices are going to hold Zim!" Zim struggled against the handcuffs. "Uh wow, these are pretty strong, get back to me in a few seconds."

"Quiet! Where are the others?" The officer asked.

"What others? Zim does not know what you are-"

"The two others who you were with. The uh, big head boy and the loud girl."

"Oh, uh, I don't know…" Zim lied. "Probably gone by now. I bet Tak already killed Dib."

"What's wrong with your head?" The head officer asked.

"Eh…uh, it's a skin condition." Zim lied.

"What about those things?" The officer grabbed one of the antennae and pulled. Zim bit his lip to keep himself from crying out. Not only were irken antennae very sensitive, but the dog had bit that one!

"It's a…new style." Zim wheezed.

"Oh, okay. Well boys, let's get this young lady down to the station." The man turned to his fellow officers.

He he he, pathetic humans will believe any- wait. "Did you just call me a female?" Zim's eyes narrowed in anger.

"Yeah, aren't you?" The man had the dumbest expression on his face.

"NO! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT!" He spat and struggled on his restrains. He wanted to slap the pathetic human in the face.

"I don't know, the dress, the body jewelry…"

"This isn't a dress! It's a uniform! And the ring isn't mine!"

"Whatever, it doesn't matter. You're under arrest."

"No…I'm not under an arrest." Zim said looking up. "I'm under a tree."

"No, it means you're going to jail." The officer rubbed his temple. "You have the right to remain silent…"

"What the heck does that mean? What if I want to talk! You can't make ZIM be quiet."

"Just, someone take it away." The officer waved to the two men holding onto Zim.

The two men hoisted Zim up by his elbows and started to drag him out of the woods.

"Hey! I haven't escaped yet! Just wait a second!" Zim said, struggling to break his bonds.

"Hey chief, he actually broke part of the handcuff." One of the men said, looking back behind Zim.

"Really?" The chief walked around and observed the handcuff. It was halfway broken through. The chief gave Zim a hard look. Zim smiled awkwardly.

"Don't be trying to escape, that'll get you nowhere." The chief said, putting a second pair of handcuffs on Zim's gloved hands.

Suddenly a blast of light came from out of nowhere and hit the ground around their feet. The blast spread through the ground and ran up the men's legs. The shock seemed to electrocute them for they fell to the ground and shook like they had just been hugged by an electric eel.

Zim jerked back in fear of being shocked. He watched as the human security drones writhed around on the ground. "Uh…okay."

More officers came forward to try to help the men, but as soon as they came forward, they were shocked just as badly. Zim quickly broke of his handcuffs with his PAK legs.

"HA! Told you I could break them!" He said to no one in particular and ran off into the woods.

He heard screeches from some of the humans, but they were too shocked to do anything. Even the dogs seemed too scared to go near the shocked men.

Zim smirked. He didn't really care about the fact that his antennae was broken and bleeding, or that he couldn't hear very well…he didn't care that he was limping from the dog bite on his leg…he didn't care that his uniform was ripped or that Tak's ring was making his head pound again…he didn't even care that he wasn't shocked by that mysterious beam that came out of nowhere. He was too pleased by the fact that he had escaped the humans. Truth be told he hadn't thought he would escape at all; there were so many of them.

He was so pleased, that he didn't notice the trees start to sway and the grass part as he ran towards freedom.

"OW!"

Zim looked up, expecting to see a tree. He had crashed into something very hard…and almost metallic. However, nothing was there. Or, at least he didn't see anything. He tentatively stood up and reached his hand out. Yep, there was defiantly something there. Must've been Tak's ship. Humans wouldn't have the technology to cloak themselves let alone equipment.

He heard a hissing sound as the cockpit lifted up and showed Tak in her seat.

He saw some movement from the back of the ship…probably Dib-stink.

"Did you like it?" Tak grinned like a mad person. "I made that myself. It only affects other species. The tallest are going to put it on the massive."

Zim had no idea what Tak was going on about. He looked back into the ship again. He definitely saw Dib's head. It wasn't that hard to miss. An aircraft could see that thing from the moon.

Zim heard muffled screams coming from the back. Dib's figure continued to squirm around like a worm.  
"what's going on?" Zim asked Tak, who was still monologuing.  
"huh?" Tak said, breaking from her speech. "oh, silly defect! Did you think that if you helped me (which I clearly didn't need) that I would actually consider sparing you? That logic might be true to a defective drone...but not to an Irken Invader!"  
Tak hopped down out of the ship. She turned off her cloaking device; turning back into her original irken form.  
"I'm going to enjoy tearing you apart Zim! But, you've proved difficult to kill. So I came up with a plan! Mimi! Bring out the bait!"  
Zim looked to the ship. Mimi's figure shuffled around the cockpit.  
He heard another muffled cry of anger followed by the sound of a mechanical crunch.  
Mimi came flying out of the spaceship, dragging Dib's big head in her three claws. Dib was gagged and tied with rope around his feet and arms. Mimi set him up next to her master in a kneeing position. Dib's eyes were wide and scared. He whimpered once as Mimi Tightened her grip and held his head back.  
"what's that earthen expression...ah, yes. I'm going to kill two birds with one stone." Amusement flickered in Tak's green eyes as she took a small irken hand gun from a compartment on her ship an held it up to Dib's head.  
"You can't save both of you." Tak hissed and drove the gun nozel deeper into Dib's head. Dib let out a muffled yell and tried to jerk away.  
"your choice. Surrender or the boy dies."  
"Irk, how many weapons did the tallest give you?" Zim sneered.  
"ANSWER THE QUESTION!" Tak hissed.  
"Eh, what question?"  
"Are you going to surrender or should I kill your friend?" Tak was getting angry.  
"First of all, that human is not mu friend. Inva-...Irkens don't need friends. Second, you didn't really say that, you said surrender or-"  
"GAH! You know what I meant!" Tak screeched. "What's it going to be?"  
Zim bit his lip. Tak couldn't kill his enemy! That was his job! He tried to think. He went up to scratch his head and caught his finger on the ring. A sudden pain went through his head as he remembered the ring was still on their. That's when it hit him. All the pain from today washed over him like a wave and threatened to bring him under. He felt along the base of his antennae and found it bleeding horribly. His head and leg throbbed in pain.  
Zim knew he couldn't fight tak...not when he was so weak. He needed a plan. No; he needed a brilliant plan!  
"you drive a hard bargain Tak." Zim said nonchalantly. "I am done racking my marvelous brain meats and have come to a decision. The boy shall die."  
Dib's eyes widened and he screamed muffled words that probably were very insulting.  
Tak laughed and took the gun away from Dib's head. "Hahahaha! A fight to the death it- wait, what?"  
Zim shrugged. "sure, kill him. Have fun."  
"wh-why?" Tak hissed. "this is a trick isn't it?"  
"no, no trick. He's my enemy. I would take great pleasure in seeing his gargantuan head blown off."  
Dib looked very disgruntled at the thought.  
"Well..." Tak didn't know what to say. Zim knew his plan was working.  
"Are you going to kill him or what? I have better things to do than stand out in a forest all day." Zim said , crossing his arms over his chest. He was starting to get dizzy. The world seemed to sway and his head pounded horribly.  
Zim really hated that stupid ring...wait.  
Tak was still trying to figure out if Zim was pulling her leg or not. She didn't notice that Zim pulled the mechanical ring off of his head.  
"Hey Tak! You can't kill the uh...bird things without a stone!" Zim yelled and flung the mechanical ring at Mimi's head.  
The metal ring whirred into place on the sir unit's head. Mimi fell backwards and started to spark. Her three claws released their grip from Dib's head.  
"no! Mimi! Agh, I just had you fixed!" Tak screeched.  
Zim let out a small victory laugh, but was soon silenced by the sound of shooting.  
"You stupid defect! Now I have to fix her AGAIN!" Tak yelled and pointed the hand gun at Zim.  
Zim dodged the blasts. Part 1 had went smoothly...now he just needed to think of part 2.  
A baying sound came from back were the police were.  
Zim twitched his antennae and heard the familiar sound of dogs running.  
That'll work.  
Much to his pak's resistance, Zim managed to retract his spider legs and climb up a near by tree.  
"Hey Tak! Hope you like dogs!" He yelled down at her.  
Tak glared at him. "what on Irk is a 'dog'?"  
Dib let out a muffled scream and pointed with his tied up hands to a near by bush.  
Tak's antennae drooped as a howl rang through the woods.  
"shit..."  
The dogs ran at her like the did for Zim. They bit at her ankles and her antennae. Tak let out a scream of shock and picked up her deactivated sir unit. She hopped into the ship, and after giving the dogs a few kicks on the nose; started it up and floated above them.  
"I'll get you for this Zim! Don't think you've heard the last of Invader Tak!"  
A beeping noise came from inside of her ship, followed by flashing alarm lights. "What? Computer what is happening!"  
"Emergency escape pod activated. Launch in 9-8-7."  
"what! No! Stop! Who turned on the escape pod?" Tak looked down at Dib who was grinning back happily.  
"3-2-1-"  
"Oh you wretched-" Tak's cockpit was blasted out of the ship; taking her and Mimi into Earth's atmosphere.  
The dogs whimpered and ran away as the rest of the ship fell back to the ground.  
As soon as the dust cleared, Zim came down from his hiding place in the tree.  
He walked over to Dib and untied him.  
"Thanks." Dib said awkwardly and rubbed his soar ankles. "she had very good tying skills."  
Zim nodded. "that was smart of you to activate the automatic emergency escape pod...for a human."  
Dib nodded and looked up at the smoke trail left behind from the ship.  
"She'll be back." Dib said.  
Zim shook his head. "Nah, the tallest will send someone better next time. She won't get another chance."  
Dib shrugged. "Uh, your...antenna is bleeding."  
Zim nodded slowly. "the dogs..."  
Zim couldn't finish. Even without the ring, his head was pounding. He started to see stars and the world blurred together.  
"You okay?" Dib asked. Time seemed to slow down. He felt himself falling to the ground. He barely heard Dib say something. He couldn't tell what though.  
Zim closed his eyes and gave in to the pain.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 13

A/n there will be a short epilogue posted soon. As always, thanks for the reviews! Have a great summer! (for you lucky ducks that are out of school already)

_"Did you really think you'd get away that easily Zim?"_

He pressed himself against the black wall behind him as much as he could. He felt like a cornered animal. His pak made his body stick out venerably.

"You thought you could shoot me bak into space and all your problems would be gone"

The statement wasn't really a question,but more of a fact.

"Well now your little friend isn't here to help you."

Zim gulped and looked around. It was true, Dib had abandoned him.

"You're all alone Zim."

Zim tried to run but something hit him hard in the face and smacked him back towards the wall.

"No one is coming to save you."

Zim looked up and met a pair of bloodthirsty purple eyes.

"No one cares about you."

Two more sets of eyes showed up; one red, another purple.

"defect."

Zim felt something hit his neck hard.

"Defect!"

His blood ran down his throat and onto his uniform. It was getting hard to breath. The room got extremely dark and he felt like he was falling.

"DEFECT!"

Zim awoke to the feeling of pressure on his head. He moaned and swiped away the metallic hand pressing on his face. "Shoo."

The pressure continued until Zim finally opened his eyes and saw Gir's blue eyes staring back at him.

"Gir! Get off of Zim!" He stood up abruptly which caused Gir to fall over.

"Yay! Master's alive again!" Gir said getting up.

Zim looked around. It seemed to be dawn...or dusk. He couldn't really tell on earth. Everything seemed backwards to him. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon. Birds were chirping happily in the trees above him.

Zim took in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. The air was damp and musky. Dew dripped of the grass and made his skin burn. However, the pain wasn't immense. It just stung a bit.

He noticed that his head had cleared a lot. Zim reached up to the base of his antenna and then down to his foot where the dogs had wounded him. They were both healed. His pak must have completed the repairs while he was passed out. Hopefully he wouldn't have to sleep again...the nightmares were horrible. They felt almost too real.

"Squeak!" an annoyed pitch came from above him. Zim looked up to see Minimoose fighting with one of the birds in the trees.

"Hey moosy! Can I play with the birdies too?" Gir screeched excitedly and ran up the tree.

"Gir? Minimoose?" Zim asked. "But how-"

"Squeak!" Minimoose explained, not taking his eye off of the birds.

Gir nodded. "yeah! Big head told us you was takin' a nap. So moose said we should come get...WAIT BIRDY!" Gir ran after a bird who was trying to fly back to it's nest.

Zim twitched his antennae cautiously. He couldn't smell the men who had captured him before. He did pick up a scent of dog, but it was stale. The officers must have all went home. There was no sign of Dib-stink or Tak either.

"He told you were to find me?" Zim confirmed.

Minimoose nodded.

"hmph...maybe the human is not such a waste of space after all." Zim stood up and sighed.

He quickly tested his spider legs to make sure they worked. They retracted immediately which was a good sign. The ring had really done some damage on his pak. Hopefully it had all been fixed.

Zim looked up at Minimoose who looked like he wanted an explanation of why he was passed out in the middle of the woods.

"long story short...the tallest lied." Zim sneered. "I'm no invader."

Minimoose didn't seemed surprised by this. He nodded slowly and started to float down towards his master.

"Let's just go back to the base." Zim said as he started heading towards home; Minimoose floating behind. Gir danced around the two of them singing some weird show tune about birds.

"Squeak?"

"Uh...oh, Dib helped me get rid of Tak. She was trying to eradicate me for the tallest. Of course I outsmarted her with my cunning intelligence.

Minimoose raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes. "Squeak?"

"no we are most certainly not! I would never even think of becoming friends with a human! Don't ask such silly questions."

"Squeak."  
"Yes I know he told you where I was...you told me that already. That doesn't mean we are friends! Drop the subject." Zim hissed.  
Zim sighed and walked on in silence.

"I wonder if those police will come looking for me." Zim said after being bored from all the silence. "I doubt it, humans are stupid. I probably shouldn't go to school for a few days just in case. Maybe I can invent something to brainwash the others. To make sure no one remembers."

"Maybe I'll let the Dib-worm keep his memory. Maybe not...I kinda enjoyed fighting with the little maggot. Whatever, I'll start on the machine tomorrow. But today, I just want to rest."

"Squeak."

"...Yep, things sure are looking up for Zim! Nothing can stop me no-"

'Thud'

"STUPID EARTH FOLIAGE!" 


	14. epilogue

Epilogue

A/n thanks for all the reviews guys! It makes me happy! I hoped you enjoyed the story, I have another story coming up soon (I've been working on some concepts) however it isn't a sequel to this…I don't think I'll make a sequel to this story.

Splinter-the-dragonqueen, signing off...

"send her in."

"yes sir."

The double doors opened with a hiss. Tak walked inside. For the first time in a long while, her purple eyes had a glint of fear in them. the best she could do was bite her lip to keep it from quivering.

"Come here." a menacing voice hissed. It was dark in the room, but Tak recognized Red's voice.

Tak walked up to the platform at which her two leaders were standing, er floating.

The room was so silent that her footsteps made it sound like an army marching through instead of one irken.

She knelt in front of the platform, awaiting the tallest's command. Her knee stung from where the dogs had managed to bite her.

"Tak...you have failed us." This time it was Pur's voice. He sounded serious which was defiantly not a good thing.

"Please my Tallest let me explain!" She jerked her head up. "I..."

Red put up a hand to silence her. Tak looked back down at her feet.

"You have failed. You couldn't do the simplest of tasks...I mean really? A smeet could have killed Zim!" Red snapped.

Tak opened her mouth to fight back, but she decided against it and closed it again.

"Maybe we should have you be the one on trial for defectancy." Purple said.

Red slapped him. "That's not even a word!"

"Is so!"

"Whatever! The point is that you failed your mission and will be brought back down to the roll of a janitorial drone." Red said.

Tak cursed under her breath.

"In the meantime, we have decided to let someone competent blow up the earth. Ergo, taking care if the big head boy and Zim at the same time." Red explained. "You are dismissed."

Tak slowly rose, using every ounce of self control to keep her from lashing out at the Tallest.

"Have fun cleaning!" Purple laughed.

Tak quickly left the room. She stood on the other side of the door, breathing heavily to control her anger.

"ZIM! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" Tak screeched and slammed her fist into the wall, leaving a pretty good dent.

"I will kill you Zim! I swear on my life that I will kill you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow...but soon! I will make you suffer!"


End file.
